Salman Habaka
Salman Habaka (August 1990 – 2 November 2023) was an Israeli Druze military officer. He was born in Yanuh-Jat, a Druze village in Israel, and served in the Israel Defense Forces as a lieutenant colonel. He commanded the 53rd Battalion of the 188th Armored Brigade.
Habaka joined the IDF in August 2009, starting in the Armored Corps after spending a year in the Kerem El pre-military program. He studied in Acre during his school years.
In the Gaza war, Habaka was among the first soldiers to reach Be’eri after Hamas’s October 7 attack. He arrived in two tanks with fellow soldiers to support a paratrooper unit and, following orders to search for hostages, he helped shell houses in the area.
He was killed in action on 2 November 2023 during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, in Beit Hanoun. Habaka was a member of the Yanuh-Jat community, known as a family man who built a home, married, and started a family. He left behind his wife and their two-year-old child, his parents, three brothers, and two sisters.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:54 (CET).