A new memorial initiative for Staff Sgt. Stav Halfon was launched on Thursday, exactly one year after he was killed in combat in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the war in Gaza. The project was created with his family and centers on the autumn leaf, which became the symbol most closely associated with him after his death.
Helfon was 20 when he was killed on June 18, 2025, during operational activity in Khan Younis. According to the article, he was shot by a sniper. His family, friends, and commanders describe him as energetic, highly sensitive to those around him, determined, and always eager to help others.
His military path was shaped by a desire to serve in a combat role. He enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces in February 2023 and first served in a rear-area position in the Navy. After the start of the war, he decided he wanted to move into combat, spent months preparing physically and mentally, and in August 2024 began training as a fighter in the Combat Engineering Corps. After completing the course, he joined Battalion 603, where he served as a fighter and as an armored personnel carrier driver.
The family says his time as a combat soldier was the happiest and most meaningful period of his life, because he saw it as fulfilling a personal mission. Since his death, relatives and friends have adopted the autumn leaf as a memorial symbol, wearing pendants and even getting tattoos. TERMINAL X launched a collection of shirts with the family, featuring a single-line illustration of the leaf, to represent continuity and remembrance.
The shirts are being sold without profit. The family says the goal is to keep telling Stav Halfon’s story, bring his character to the public, and spread the values they associate with him: kindness, giving, perseverance, sensitivity and optimism.
