Friends and family found it difficult to accept the death of Cpl. Meidan Maymon Biton, 20, of Netivot, who was killed in a mortar shell attack on a staging area on the Gaza border on Monday. "The heart refuses to believe how you were plucked at such a young age," his friends wrote on the Facebook page honoring the fallen soldier. "Meidan, say it is a nightmare, and that you are still here with us. Only a few days ago you promised that you would take care of yourself and you wanted to wave an Israeli flag in Gaza, and now you are coming back wrapped in one," the soldier's friend wrote. "Thank you for fighting for us. Rest in peace, my dear friend. I will remember you forever." Another soldier killed in the same incident was Cpl. Niran Cohen, 20, of Tiberias. Cohen served as a cook in the Armored Corps. He had spent last weekend at home with his family and friends before returning to the base on Sunday. "He was an amazing kid. Kindhearted. He always helped everyone, especially his parents. He gave respected them like royalty," said one of the family's neighbors. Tiberias mayor Yossi Ben David said Monday that "the city of Tiberias feels the Cohen family's pain and we embrace them. We will help this dear family as much as needed." Niran is survived by his parents, two sisters and a brother. Staff Sgt. Adi Briga, 23, was also killed in the same mortar attack. At the Briga home in Beit Hashikma, there was mainly disbelief. A relative said that Briga had been called up for reserve duty as a cook. "For years he dreamed of studying to be a chef. He was very serious about cooking. What a terrible loss for his family," he said. The head of the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, Yair Farjun, said that "in such a small community, where everyone knows everyone, when a soldier falls, everyone mourns deeply. There is no way to comfort parents whose son lies before them. My heart goes out to this precious family, whose world has collapsed." Briga is survived by his parents and two brothers. A fourth soldier killed in the same incident was Staff Sgt. Eliav Eliyahu Haim Kahlon, 22, of Safed. He was the second of seven children, about to complete his mandatory military service. His eldest brother is also serving in the current Gaza offensive as a reservist. Eliav's sister was told of her brother's death after delivering a baby on Monday. The family had planned to visit the fallen soldier near the Gaza border this week, but he asked them not to come because it would be too difficult for him to say goodbye, they said. Kahlon is survived by his parents and six siblings. In a separate incident on Monday, Staff Sgt. Moshe Davino was killed when an anti-tank missile hit his D9 bulldozer inside the Gaza Strip. He was 20 years old. Moshiko, as his friends called him, was the third of four children. He was from Jerusalem. "He wanted to go into Gaza. He told me: 'I'm going to do it big time'. He always did things without fear. He was never afraid -- that was Moshiko," said one of his friends. "We used to call him 'magic'. He was always smiling and optimistic. He never spoke ill of anyone. When they said the names of the fallen on the news, I prayed that it wasn't him," she said. Davino is survived by his parents and three siblings. Also on Monday, five Israeli soldiers were killed near the Gaza border when terrorists emerged from a cross-border tunnel about 150 meters inside Israel and fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF post. The dead were named as Sgt. Daniel Kedmi, 18; Sgt. Barkey Ishai Shor, 21; Sgt. Sagi Erez, 19; Sgt. Dor Dery 18 and Sgt. Nadav Raimond, 19.
