Israel-Hamas War: Melbourne-born Australian-Israel citizen killed in fighting in Gaza

Lior Sivan, 32, was reportedly serving as a tank commander when he was killed in fighting between Israel and Hamas on December 19.

Mr Sivan, who was born in Melbourne, is understood to have left Australia as a toddler and spent most of his life in Israel.

His father, Dan Sivan, reportedly said his son died in an ambush when “someone hiding behind a building launched something at him”.

“He was killed immediately. But he saved the four men in the other tank and possibly the other three in his own tank,” Mr Sivan said.

“Even though my son loved life, creation, nature and peace, he saw it as a very important task to defend the country and the people.

“(He) was called to a reservist on the 7th of October because he realised, like all of us, that we can only defend ourselves, no one can do it for us.”

A friend of the family wrote on Facebook last month that they were heartbroken by the death of Mr Sivan, who was a mechanical engineer.

“Yesterday we attended the funeral of Lior Sivan, the son of Adina and Dan Sivan, friends of ours from Bet Shemesh,” they said.

“He was killed while fighting Hamas in Gaza… each soldier who is killed breaks my heart. It is an unfathomable reality.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said Mr Sivan was a hero who had made the “ultimate sacrifice”.

“People like Lior Sivan are the difference between Jewish life and Jewish death. He is a hero in the truest meaning of the word,” he said.

“By all accounts he was a special human being and the pain of his loss is sharpened by the knowledge he leaves a heavily pregnant wife, and a two-year-old son.

“The Jewish world will forever be grateful to Lior and every fallen soldier who has died so that Israel may live.”

Stand With Us, a controversial Israeli advocacy group, reported Mr Sivan’s death on December 20, stating he was a reservist captain.

“Lior was killed during the operation against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. May his memory forever be a blessing,” they said on Twitter.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it “is aware of reports that an Australian citizen has been killed in Gaza and is urgently seeking further confirmation”.

“We send our condolences to his family during this difficult time and stand ready to provide consular assistance,” a spokesperson said.

Mr Sivan is the first Australian to have died while fighting for Israel, and is third killed in fighting surrounding Israel.

Two Australians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a home in the town of Bint Jbeil in south Lebanon last week, amid ongoing fighting with Hezbollah.

The Iranian-backed militant group later claimed one of the two men killed was among its fighters, who have been targeted by Israeli since the war began.

Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Richard Dreyfuss told media at the time that the government was investigating claims by Hezbollah, a listed terrorist organisation.

The deaths come as intense urban fighting continues to grip the Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials have so far put the death toll there at almost 22,000.

Middle Eastern media reported on Tuesday Israel was beginning to draw back its forces for what it said would be a lower-level and protracted fight.

At the same time, local media and figures within the Israeli government have renewed calls for a suggested “relocation” of Gaza’s citizens to the Sinai Peninsula.