IDF Lt. Aviv wounded in Gaza fighting Photo: family.

IDF Engineering Corps officer 2 Lt. (res) Aviv, was badly wounded last week in a clash with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, according to an Israeli media report.

Three of his soldiers were killed in that firefight, and doctors at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba placed Aviv under an induced coma in order to stabilize his condition.

Maj. Benaya Sarel, 26, from Kiryat Arba, 2 Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23, from Kfar Saba, and St.-Sgt. Liel Gidoni, 20, from Jerusalem were killed when a Hamas suicide bomber emerged from a tunnel near Rafah and blew himself up – wounding Aviv.

Aviv sustained blast wounds, and burns to his hand and legs in the incident, according to the report.

But, after a long, painful week of recovery, Aviv, supported by his wife, awoke and took his first tentative steps on Wednesday.

“He only opened his eyes the day before,” Aviv’s mom, Tikva (Hope), told the Israeli Walla News site on Thursday.

“The first thing he asked about when he came to was the guys who were in the firefight,” his mom said. “We saw to it that a mental heath professional broke the awful news to him.”

Aviv had completed his compulsory service only six months ago, Tikva said.

“He’d managed to travel a bit, think about what he wanted to do (post-service), what to study…” said the mother of six.

“When he got the ‘Tzav-8’ emergency call-up notice, he went in with pride,” Tikva said.

Last Saturday, his medical team began reducing the dosage of the heavy anesthetics Aviv received, and started to bring him back to full consciousness.

Aviv’s family lives on a moshav (semi-communal village) close to Kiryat Gat, about 30 kilometers north of Gaza. But since his injury, his mother rarely leaves his bedside. She wears his dogtags, given to her by his senior officer after the clash.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Tikva and Aviv, as part of a visit with the wounded at Soroka.

“We don’t talk with our son about politics, or about the cease-fire that’s supposed to begin this morning, but I have no doubt he wants to go back to the scene of the fighting, and complete his mission,” she said.

“We’re all supporting him – not just the family – which is assumed, but also his friends who couldn’t make it here to visit, and folks from the region who don’t even know him who came to support us,” she said. “Allow me to say ‘thank you.'”

After Aviv’s condition improves, he’ll be transferred to a rehabilitation unit, maybe elsewhere.

“The family doesn’t know a lot about his condition,” Tikva said. “He’s got a long road to recovery ahead.”