On June 11, Hadas Levy was killed the first woman to give a child by a soldier in the war of Israel against Hamas in Gaza, fueled by the massacre of 7 October that claimed 1200 lives.
Capt. (Res.) Netanel Silberg, Levy’s Fiancé, was killed in the battle in Gaza in December 2023. The couple met on a blind date organized by friends in May 2022.
Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza after the explosive device touches their vehicle
Netanel Silberg and his fiancé, Hadas Levy, pose together for Silberg, a reserve captain of Israel, was killed in Gaza while fighting Hamas terrorists. (Hadas Levy)
While the full size of the massacre of October 7 appeared, Silberg answered the call for weapons. Although his age and rank exempt him to serve in Gaza, he joined the first wave of soldiers to be deployed there.
“I kept telling him that he shouldn’t go, but he was restless. He went to pick up his army equipment from his parents and said he would come back, but instead he went to the battlefield,” Levy recalled.
During the leave the following month, Silberg bought a ring and suggested.
“We were engaged around November, but we had no party. We never talked about what I would do if something would happen to him because it was not an option,” said Levy.
Silberg was killed in action on December 18, 2023.
“I worked that morning. I am not a spiritual person, but I felt so intense nausea that I had to spit in a garbage can. I went home early, and it turned out that the nausea struck at the same time he was killed,” Levy recalled.
Because the couple was not married, Levy did not receive an official notification; She heard Van Silberg’s death through a phone call from his mother. It was with that call when Levy asked his mother the question that would continue on his estate.
“I just remember that I was on the carpet and begged his mother on the phone to ask them to perform the procedure to collect Netanel’s sperm. She immediately said yes,” Levy said.
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Hadas Levy holds her newborn son. (Hadas Levy)
“In the week after October 7, because of the massacresIt took time to identify the bodies. We received them a few days later and tried to pick up sperm, but we thought that after more than 72 hours, and usually after 48 hours, the sperm is no longer viable, “he said.
Since then, the Israeli army has quickly become more efficient in the fast transport of bodies, which makes victims in their uniforms and equipment to prevent the procedure.
The sperm is stored in liquid nitrogen on –196 degrees Celsius, where it can remain viable for decades.
Hadas Levy, her son and Dr. Eran Altman, director of De Sperm Bank in the men’s Installiteness clinic in the Beilinson Hospital, Israel. (Rabin Medical Center – Beilinson Hospital.)
Earlier, a judicial order was required to collect the samples of fallen soldiers. Since October 7, the Act has been temporarily amended: the procedure can now be carried out without a judicial order, but the sperm cannot be used without one. Altman’s Clinic in Rabin Medical Center – Beilinson Hospital collected eleven sperm samples from Silberg.
During Shiva, the seven -day Jewish mourning period, Levy told Silberg’s mother that she would start with the process of coming up with his monsters.
“I felt that there was no life without him and that I couldn’t go on. I felt that it was the only living creature that I could still get from him. I wanted something to grow from him,” said Levy.
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Levy described the challenges of navigating her pregnancy without her partner. She said she had to do every test alone and explain his absence when she was asked about the father. With the deceased Netanel she was unable to undergo genetic screening and she often had to trust his mother for information about his family.
In June Levy gave her son to her son via C-Section in Hadassah University Hospital on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, where she had also undergone insemination accompanied by Dr. Ephrat ESH broder of the IVF unit.
Hadas Levy’s baby son sleeps next to her on an undated photo. (Neta Levy)
Three months later her son has his father’s nose and ears. Levy said that Silberg would have been up to the region because he never loved his own characteristics.
“We are already looking at pictures of Netanel. He must be proud of his father, the story of his father is one of courage. He must know that he has a father and a family,” she said.
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Levy is often approached by women looking for guidelines on the process. In addition to her striving, about six other IDF widows to parenting with the help of sperm picked up from their deceased spouses.
The IDF Widows and Orphans Organization (IDFWO) offers extensive support throughout the entire process and helps families to navigate emotional, legal and medical challenges.
‘You have to want the child for the child and not for his father who was murdered. It is something that is sometimes forgotten. The child cannot only be his father’s son, it is not fair. I say it to the girls who want to do it. It’s continuity, it’s life and it’s amazing, “said Levy.
