For more than 400 days, Yonah Brief has tried to recover after being seriously injured during the Hamas terror attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. But the combat medic died in late November after losing both legs and being in a medically induced coma.
The dual Israeli-American citizen has become a symbol of the sacrifice of hundreds of fallen soldiers in what many in Israel see as a war for the country’s survival.
“He became the epitome of ‘don’t quit,'” said his mother Hazel. His father David compared him to the oil burning a candle in the Hanukkah story, which miraculously burned longer than expected according to Jewish tradition.
More than 800 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the Hamas attack, about 300 of them in the initial days and the rest in Gaza or in the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Thousands more have been injured, many of them seriously. Nearly 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, while more than 3,500 have died in Lebanon, according to local health officials.
It is mandatory for most Jews to serve in Israel’s military. The service of soldiers is respected, and Israelis consider their sacrifice extremely poignant. In past wars, public opinion has often been influenced by heavy military losses.
I was hurt before
A few months before Brief was called into action on 7 October, he was seriously injured, also in his legs, by a pipe bomb during a commando raid while serving in the occupied West Bank.
The weekend of October 7 was his first duty post recovery.
As militants attacked from Gaza, he and his seven-soldier commando unit rushed to engage Israeli forces in a house-to-house battle in communal farming villages, military bases and towns along the border.
His father said Brief’s unit was ordered to clear Kibbutz Kfar Azza, where Hamas fighters ambushed them, killing two soldiers.
When Brief ran to help one of them, he was shot 13 times.
Suddenly, his training as a physician was used to save himself.
His father said he tied a rope around his mangled legs and dragged himself and a fellow soldier to a nearby bullet-damaged house. There, Hadas Ilon-Carmi’s family hid in a strong room and later described the letter as “full of blood” to the soldiers.
Leter was taken to the hospital a few hours later. The other soldier, his commanding officer, died at the scene.
Staying in the hospital was also terrible. Brief, the most seriously injured patient in the October 7 attack, was treated at Tel Aviv’s Sheba Medical Center, the country’s largest hospital.
After his leg was amputated, he was swinging between life and death.
He has undergone more than 20 surgeries. His doctors told Israeli media that he received a transfusion of more than 200 units of blood. The hospital called in experts and surgeons from all over the world to save him.
Ilon-Carmi’s family became close to him, visiting Brief in the hospital and praying for his recovery.
“Yona represents everything I want for an Israeli,” she said.
often awake and alive
Steve Walz, international spokesman for Sheba Medical Center, said Brief’s determination to live became a source of inspiration for doctors and medical staff who were overwhelmed with work and heartbreak in the early days of the war.
Although there were times when Brief was in a medically induced coma, he was often awake and lucid, even alive.
Her mother said she’s grateful for what’s left.
He exercised by lifting a barbell above his head while in his hospital bed. They sang and danced with the visitors. Once, he even left the hospital to spend the night at his family’s home, but his medical problems brought him back.
Brief’s parents said there were sparks of joy in the nearly 14 months since he was injured. Chefs cooked special meals for them like sushi. Politicians and influential people visited, and Israel’s top musicians played music at his bedside. He turned 23 years old.
But while his parents said his spirit never wavered, after months of heavy medication his liver eventually failed.
Hundreds of people attended his funeral and tributes came from all walks of Israeli life.
“With Yona, every day he had to fight for this victory and that is why his heroism is extraordinary,” said Israeli opposition lawmaker Chile Tropper, who became close to Brief and his family. “For them, during the 417 days, every single day was a war.”
