The first sergeant Igor Pepinif, 32, a member of the Israeli police who participated in the October 7, 2023 confrontations, committed suicide on Tuesday inside his apartment in the city of Ashkelon. His widow found his body with a gunshot wound on his side.
Pepinif, who worked as a patrol policeman in the police station in Hebron, was famous for claiming that 13 militants on his own during five separate confrontations while heading to his family’s house in the Nir Ishaq settlement in Gaza’s cover.
After the attack, he received psychotherapy in the rehabilitation department of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, but he was unable to overcome the trauma he suffered.
The accident sheds light on the psychological challenges faced by some participants in violent security events, raising questions about the psychological support mechanisms provided.
