The funerals were held yesterday for Staff Sergeant Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, and Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, who were killed at a military checkpoint near Hebron on Friday.
The pair had both served in the 775th “Ari” Battalion of the Home Front Command’s Search and Rescue Brigade and “fell in combat in the Judea Junction,” according to a statement from the IDF.
Svilem’s heartbroken father spoke about his son’s death in a TV interview, saying: “They took a diamond from us. They took my strength, they took my soul. Mine and the entire family's."
Roytman, a squad commander of the battalion, was laid to rest on Sunday morning at the military cemetery in Ashkelon.
“We will live our lives with our heads held high because we are Ron’s parents, we are Ron’s family,” his mother said at the ceremony.
“I promise you that we will live a life that you deserve. We will continue to live and love each other, and support each other. I love you very much, forever, your mother.”
His older brother David described him as his “best friend,” adding as reported by Channel 12: “I remember we once sat down and thought about what would happen if one of us fell, what we would want people to say about us.
"You didn’t want to talk about it. You didn’t have such a thought in your head.”
Svilem, a combat soldier, was buried later in the day at the military cemetery in his hometown of Hod Hasharon.
Israel National News reported that in her eulogy his sister Shira said: “You will be etched in my heart forever.”
Meanwhile, Svilem’s father had harsher words that he delivered in an exclusive interview with Channel 7.
Demanding answers from the IDF about his son’s death, he said: “We want a proper investigation … To really understand where, what, and how such a failure happened."
Paying tribute to his son, he added: “They took a diamond from us. They took my strength, they took my soul. Mine and the entire family's."
Speaking on Friday at the scene of the attack, Central Command officer Avi Bluth said that a “grave terror attack” was thwarted “thanks to the bravery of IDF soldiers”.
Extending his condolences to the families of the two fallen men, he added: “Today, IDF soldiers put their lives on the line to prevent a grave terror attack against civilians.
"We will bring all terrorists to justice and dismantle terrorist infrastructure of all kinds.”
To get more Israel news, click here to sign up for our free Israel Briefing newsletter.