Nir Poraz (14 May 1971 – 14 October 1994) (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: ניר פורז) was an Israeli Defence Forces Captain who was killed in action by

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

during the failed October 14, 1994 rescue mission for IDF soldier

Nachshon Wachsman The abduction and killing of Nachshon Wachsman was an incident in which Palestinian Hamas abducted Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman from the Bnei Atarot junction in central Israel, and held him hostage for six days. The incident ended in a fai ...

in Bir Nabbalah. The rescue operation was authorized by then Israeli Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...

. Poraz was killed by close range automatic fire from a distance of three yards. He was 23 years old. Author Ami Pedahzur writes in his book ''The Israeli Secret Services and the Struggle Against Terrorism'' that in addition to the deaths of Wachsman and Poraz "ten officers and enlisted men had been wounded." Three Hamas gunmen were also killed. Poraz, along with Capt. Lior Lotan, was one of the mission commanders of the

Sayeret Matkal General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (formerly Unit 269 or Unit 262), more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal ( he, סיירת מטכ״ל) is the special reconnaissance unit (''sayeret'') of Israel's General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, General ...

team which had been assigned the task to rescue Wachsman. Poraz and Wachsman had never met. Many similarities have been drawn between Israel's different response to the kidnapping of Wachsman and to the 2006 kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Poraz's mother, Mati, when interviewed by the Israeli news source ynet said, "I can only hope that there will be no rescue operation; that it will end in diplomatic manners." In addition to his mother, Nir is survived by his two sisters Tamar and Amit. When he was two years old, Nir's father was killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War during the battle for the Suez Canal. Nir's name is frequently evoked in speeches at memorial services to Yitzhak Rabin and Nahshon Wachsman. Nir's military funeral took place in Kfar Sha'ul on the Sunday afternoon following his death. At the request of Nir's mother, Rabbi Mordechai Elon of Yeshivat HaKotel delivered a eulogy devoid of politics. Nir Poraz's name has also been given to a recent Israeli medical discovery NIR. An annual duathalon is named after him in

Ramat HaSharon Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon t ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Poraz, Nir 1971 births 1994 deaths Israeli soldiers Israeli military personnel killed in action Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery