'Until the end': Fiancée of fallen IDF solder Gal Shabat tells their story

Israeli Golani soldiers seen during a firing training in a fire range at the Golani divisional training base, on August 1, 2021. (credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)

Major Gal Shabat, a 24-year-old company commander in the 202nd Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade, originally from Katzir, died of his wounds after being seriously injured last week by terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip.

Roni Shimshoni, Shabat’s fiancée, spoke with Israeli public broadcaster Kan about their relationship and what he was like.

"We were supposed to get married in nine months,” she said. “We have message conversations and letters where we talked about our three future children, a house by the sea, and a dog.”

Their story

She reflected on Shabat, recalling he had said, 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you' when he proposed to her, but that he never said “he wanted to grow old with [her].”

Shimshoni spoke of the comfort of knowing that desire was fulfilled. She was there for the rest of his life, “his whole life, until the end.”

The two met during their training at Training Base 1 in Mitzpe Ramon.

"We both traveled back together and met on the bus,” recalled Shimshoni. “Gal sat next to me and accompanied me to the military dorms. I immediately told the others in the room that I had found my future husband. I went to the front gate and asked for his details. I talked to him on Instagram and we talked every night for hours. There was so much love there. There still is.”

“As long as there is love, nothing else matters."

Shabat proposed to her on a hot air balloon, which Shimshoni said was the best day of her life. He used to send her pictures from Gaza showing him drinking coffee and telling her “nothing was happening.” She reckoned he didn’t want her to worry.

She added she does not know the exact details surrounding his death as the incident is still being investigated. All she knows is that "Gal was a hero. That is what everyone who was at the incident says."

Shabat was the commander of the ultra-Orthodox "Hatz” battalion of the paratroopers, in which all fighters are Orthodox.

“They would call him 'Abba Shabat',” said Shimshoni. “He gave them everything they needed. And he would put on tefillin with them and sing songs with them. He really was the perfect commander for them, and all his soldiers would say that."