He was 16 years old when his father collapsed beside him from a cardiac arrest and died. He watched it happen. And then, instead of stepping back from life, David Hazutt stepped forward, into the hardest thing he could find.
His mother Galit had to sign a special waiver for her only son to enlist as a combat soldier in Golani. He was exempt by law, a sole sonm but he wouldn't hear of it. "He said to me: 'Mom, I'm going into combat. My whole world is Golani, there's nothing like Golani. Only for the sake of the state,'" she told Walla through tears. "He told me: 'Mom, if something happens to me --- keep living. I did what was required of me for the sake of the country.'"
Two weeks before he was killed, David called his mother with a request. "If I don't come back," he told her, "I want you to fulfill my will: smile and live."
His aunt Moran, speaking to Ynet, said the family called him "King David." "He had only his mother and his sister. His father died of a heart attack a few years ago, the child was 16, his father had a cardiac arrest right next to him and died. This child chose exactly where he wanted to go, and he wanted to enlist in the IDF."
The army, aware of his family circumstances, initially assigned David to rear positions after he completed an officers' course. He fought until they gave him what he wanted: a frontline command. He fought in Gaza. He fought in Lebanon. He always walked at the head of his forces, his aunt said, placing himself between the enemy and his soldiers.
Capt. David Hazutt, 21, a platoon commander in the Golani Brigade's 12th Battalion, was killed overnight between Saturday and Sunday at around 2 a.m. in the area of Deir Siryan in southern Lebanon, when Golani forces operating in the area encountered a Hezbollah terrorist inside a structure. The terrorist opened fire. Hazutt fell. Another soldier was lightly wounded and evacuated for treatment. The forces returned fire but the terrorist escaped. Artillery strikes were subsequently carried out in the area to neutralize further threats. The IDF is continuing to search for the operative.
His mother's request to the public is simple and direct: come to the funeral. "Let everyone who can come to my son's funeral," Galit said, "to give a last embrace to the fighter who gave everything for the whole."
His death is the latest in a week of heavy losses for IDF forces operating in Lebanon. Days ago, Staff Sergeant Basel Sweid was killed when a military vehicle overturned during an operational activity in the Rab a-Tlateen area. Last week, Lt. Col. Dor Ben Simhon, commander of Battalion 52, was killed alongside three members of his tank crew when an explosive drone struck their tank. Minutes before that mission, Ben Simhon had delivered a personal and moving message to his soldiers about his family and his desire to come home.
The losses have fueled growing criticism of how the Lebanon campaign is being managed. Military correspondent Shai Levy warned this week that the IDF is presenting a distorted picture of "strategic assets" captured, while Hezbollah's actual center of gravity lies deep in Lebanese territory in areas the IDF is not approaching.
