Israeli tank commander hailed as hero after Hamas attack is killed in Gaza

Lt Col Salman Habaka was among first Israeli troops to arrive in Israel’s south after attack on 7 October

An Israeli tank commander who was hailed as a hero for his actions during Hamas’s attack on Be’eri kibbutz, the scene of one of the worst massacres on 7 October, has been killed while commanding his tank battalion in northern Gaza.

Lt Col Salman Habaka, 33, a member of Israel’s Druze minority, had rushed to Be’eri with his troops when news of the Hamas attack broke on the morning of 7 October, bringing two tanks to the kibbutz, which engaged members of the militant Islamist group in houses where they were hiding.