Fallen Israeli soldier’s organs save five patients
The organs of an Israeli soldier killed in Gaza were donated to five different people, the National Transplant Centre said on Tuesday.
20-year-old fallen soldier Sivan Weil. Photo by IDF Spokesperson
Staff Sgt. Sivan Weil of the elite Egoz unit was injured in Khan Yunis on Friday when a Hamas terrorist fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a building being used by soldiers. One soldier was immediately killed, and Weil was one of 16 injured.
The 20-year-old Weil was evacuated to the Soroka Hospital in Beer-Sheva, but he died of his injuries on Sunday.
“Sivan was especially strong with a heart of gold and a captivating smile. In his military service, he and his teammates saved many lives. We hope that the donation of his organs will save more lives and thus perpetuate the memory of our angel,” his parents said.
Weil’s heart was transplanted into a 45-year-old man and his lungs into a 37-year-old man at the Sheba Medical Centre in Ramat Gan. One of his kidneys went to a 66-year-old man at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Centre, and the other, together with his pancreas, were transplanted into a 48-year-old man at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. Weil’s liver was donated to a 40-year-old woman, also at Beilinson.
Weil was laid to rest on Monday in his hometown of Ra’anana.
The war against Hamas has led to a surge in Israeli organ donations. In January, the National Transplant Center reported that the consent rate for donations climbed to 85%.
According to the Centre, an average of 250 Israelis each year receive new organs while 300 patients join the waiting list.
At least 1,200 people were killed and 240 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the remaining 134 hostages, Israel recently declared 31 of them dead.
Am Yisrael Chai.