The Israel Defense Forces logo. Photo: IDF.

JNS.org – The military committee that examined soldiers’ activities during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge recommended to Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz that the Medal of Courage—Israel’s second-highest military honor—be given to a soldier who ran into a Hamas tunnel to try to save a comrade.

Lt. Eitan Fund, 23, of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance company, endangered his life in an effort to save Lt. Hadar Goldin after Goldin was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.

During a confrontation between IDF soldiers and Hamas in Gaza, Fund noticed a hidden entrance into a tunnel. When Goldin was discovered missing, Fund did not hesitate to run into the tunnel to try to find him, despite the obvious danger. He found some of Goldin’s equipment, but nothing more. Goldin was later declared killed in action.

The Medal of Courage is granted for “an act of gallantry during combat duty at the risk of one’s life.”