Sept 12, 2006 - An IDF reserve Bedouin tracker, 44, was killed by sniper fire in the course of an army operation to uncover terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, near the Kissufim Crossing.
The Beduin tracker, was operating with a paratrooper reserve unit near the Kissufim Crossing, a few hundred meters from the border fence in the central Gaza Strip. The troops entered a Palestinian home where they were confronted by two gunmen who shot and killed the tracker. The armed wing of Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the shooting.
The tracker, from an unrecognized Bedouin settlement in the Negev, whose family asked that his name not be published, had served in the IDF for 19 years. Pini Ganon, former commander of the IDF trackers unit, described him as one of the leading and most professional trackers of the Southern Command. "He was highly motivated and volunteered for every task. Because of his excellence he was awarded a scholarship to study industrial management, which he successfully completed."
The tracker received a traditional Bedouin funeral in the Negev. He is survived by two wives and ten children.