Reserve Sergeant Barak Kalfon, 48, from Mitzpe Adi in the Jezreel Valley, a fighter in the Hiram Battalion under the reserve brigade "Eagle Brigade", fell last night from an IED explosion in the village of Jabin in southern Lebanon.
Six fighters were injured in the incident, four of whom were evacuated to hospitals.
Sergeant Major Kalfon, who entered the building at the head of the force along with the company commander, was seriously injured by the force of the explosion. He was treated on the spot and flown by helicopter to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, where, tragically, the medical team was forced to declare him dead.
According to a report in Kan News, the force that maneuvered in southern Lebanon yesterday, after the ceasefire went into effect, operated in the Lebanese village of Jabin in the western sector, three and a half kilometers from the border, as part of the 146th Division's ground maneuvers.
The IDF estimates that the building the fighters entered was trapped by Hezbollah terrorists before the ceasefire went into effect.
Kalfon worked as an engineer at Rafael. He was married to Shmarit and had two daughters: Noga and Maya.
Kiryat Motzkin Mayor Tziki Avissar published a personal post in which he wrote: "With deep sorrow and a torn heart, I received the bitter news of the fall of the late Sergeant Major Barak Kalfon, a graduate of the city and resident of Mitzpe Adi, who was killed yesterday during an operational activity in southern Lebanon. I visited his parents, Sari and Meir Kalfon. Sari is a personal friend and a role model in the Kiryats, a respected educator who served as the principal of the Kiryat Bialik Youth School, and later became the director of Kiryat Motzkin's mythological volunteer network. Sari is synonymous with giving, education and kindness, and today our entire community is grieving with her and with Meir the unimaginable loss of their young son.".
Upon his enlistment in the IDF, Kalfon served as an outstanding soldier in the Paratrooper Brigade. After his discharge, he completed his studies in mechanical engineering at the Technion. He later joined Rafael as an engineer.
Since the beginning of Operation "Roar of the Lion," 14 IDF soldiers have been killed in Lebanon.
