A devastating tragedy struck an Israeli family in Slovenia during Yom Kippur: Gil Hillel, 44, a resident of Kibbutz Yizre’el, was killed on Sunday after rushing down a steep drop to save his young son during a family hike. The incident unfolded as the family was traversing a local mountain trail. Hillel’s seven-year-old son slipped and fell toward a river below. Without hesitation, Gil leaped down after him to pull him from danger. During the daring rescue effort, Gil sustained fatal trauma and succumbed to his injuries. The young boy was rescued in light condition and evacuated by medical helicopter to a local hospital for treatment.
Gil, who was born and raised in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek, was an engineer at medical device giant Medtronic and a graduate of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. A married father of three, his brother Ben remembered him in an emotional tribute as a brilliant, athletic, humorous, and deeply devoted family man—someone whose immediate instinct was always to leap forward and help others. This quality ultimately cost him his life in an act of extraordinary paternal devotion.