British-born soldier, 19, killed in combat

A BRITISH-born teenager has died fighting for the Israel Defence Forces in Gaza.

Binyamin Needham, who turned 19 two weeks ago, was killed in action along with comrade sergeant Ben Zussman, 22, after they came under attack from terrorists holed up in a building.

Keen martial arts enthusiast Binyamin had only been in Gaza two days.

He was born in Edgware, north London, and moved to Israel ten years ago with his parents Faye and Amnon. Binyamin was the youngest of six children and was known as the ‘baby of the family’. A sister and brother remain in London. He was a sergeant in the Combat Engineering Corps of the 601st Battalion and was one of three IDF soldiers killed on Sunday.

His sister Orli Ferris said: ‘He was such a wonderful, wonderful brother and we loved him with all our hearts and we always will.

‘Nothing will be the same now, but we are all very proud of what he did and he was also proud of what he was doing.’

Some 401 soldiers have died since October 7, with 75 of those killed in action during ground operations in Gaza.