The mother of an American-Israeli soldier killed by Hamas while protecting a kibbutz from slaughter has said his sacrifice was typical of how he lived.
Second lieutenant Yannai Kaminka, 20, helped save the lives of around 90 fellow soldiers and hundreds of civilians by placing himself on the front line of the first wave of terrorist attacks last Saturday.
The eldest of four siblings was killed after leaving the relative safety of his post to take the place of younger recruits and a soldier injured under heavy artillery fire from Hamas.
In doing so, Yannai and fellow soldiers in his unit were able to thwart the militants’ onslaught, saving the lives of others at his base and hundreds of civilians living in the kibbutz behind it.
His mother, Elana Kaminka, who was born and raised in Davis, California, told DailyMail.com that how her son died was ‘an expression of how he lived’.
Yannai Kaminka, 20, was killed by Hamas after relieving trainees and injured at shelled post
His mother, Elana, said her son’s sacrifice was ‘an expression of how he lived’ his life
Yannai’s base at Zikim (pictured) came under heavy artillery fire at around 6.30am, October 7
‘He was a complete person,’ she said. ‘You hear about the officers who sit in their safe office and send out their grunts to do the dangerous jobs. What he and his fellow officers did was the opposite.
‘Yannai saw himself as a parent, not as a commander. As a parent, you put yourself in danger before you let your children be in danger.
‘So he and his colleagues put themselves on the front line and protected their trainees and the civilians behind them and they paid a very, very heavy price for it.’
Yannai, from Tzur Hadssah, Israel, was killed defending the Zikim base, on the north side of the Gaza border, against the first wave of Hamas terrorists at approximately 8.13am on October 7.
Three other officers, two sergeants and one trainee were also killed, and several others injured.
But more than 90 trainees were saved as a result of their actions, while hundreds of civilians at Kibbutz Zikim, which is adjacent to the base, were spared the horrific massacres that befell other Israeli villages that day.
Remarkably, no casualties were recorded at the kibbutz, after the efforts of Yannai and his unit stymied the terrorists’ attack.
The assault began at around 6.30am, when the base came under heavy artillery fire.
Due to it being the weekend and holidays, only one company was on duty, with several trainees spread around the guard posts.
Yannai was one of around a dozen commanders who decided the trainees did not have the experience or capacity to man these posts, so took their places while ordering the young recruits to the bomb shelters, his mother said.
Elana said her son was active in peace initiatives and believed in coexistence
Yannai initially took a post facing towards the Mediterranean Sea, but when another commander was seriously injured at a post on the other side of the perimeter that had come under heavy fire, he ran from his post to relieve them of their position, along with three other officers.
All four were killed – it is thought by grenades – but by then had managed to take out two terrorists attacking their position, severely hampering the assault.
Ultimately, Hamas was unable to penetrate the perimeter.
‘It was how he lived,’ Elana said of her son’s heroic actions. ‘I’m proud not only of the last hour of his life, not only of the heroism that saw him give up his life, but of the whole first 20 years. It was the kind of person he was when he was alive and that’s what makes me most proud.’
Elana spoke to DailyMail.com on Wednesday, shortly after receiving a visit from Yannai’s fellow soldiers who paid testament to his humanity as an officer.
She said they and others who knew her son from other walks of life all said he took extra care to understand people as individuals.
‘Even in the military, which runs to a very tight schedule, he would just walk around different guard posts and speak to soldiers to get to know them,’ Elana said.
‘He would ask the trainees about their families, their interests and their goals in life.’
Elana said her son’s desire to help people was evident from an early age where he was a counselor in the scouts.
She added that he was also a talented self-taught pianist who had always been very active in peace initiatives and believed in coexistence.
Yannai has been posthumously promoted from first to second lieutenant.
His grandparents and an uncle still live in California, while another uncle lives in Colorado.
His father, Eyal, is a poet and Yannai had the last line of one his poems painted on a wall at the base, which, translated from Hebrew, reads: ‘Only at night do you see the stars.’
‘It’s become so apt for everything we’re going through now on a personal and national level,’ Elana said. ‘Only when you’re in the hardest place of your life and the most difficult times do you also see these sparks of light.’
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