became a kibbutz in 1953 and was frequently in conflict with Arabs who crossed the nearby armistice line from Gaza to reap crops and conduct petty theft. The previous few months had been relatively quiet on the Israel's borders with Egypt and Gaza, but escalated with several cross-border shootings in early April. On April 4, three Israeli soldiers were killed by Egyptian forces on the Gaza border. Israel responded the next day by shelling the center of Gaza City, killing 58 Egyptian and Palestinian civilians as well as 4 Egyptian soldiers. Egypt responded by resuming fedayeen attacks across the border, killing 14 Israelis during the period 11–17 April. Roi Rotberg was born in Tel Aviv in 1935. He served as a messenger boy for the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. After studying at the Mikveh Israel agricultural school and the Shevah Mofetvocational school, he enlisted in the IDF and joined the infantry. After completing an officer's course, he settled in Nahal Oz, which was to be the first of the Nahal settlements. He became the Nahal Oz security officer, and was regularly involved in chasing off infiltrators, sometimes using lethal force. Rotberg married Amira Glickson and had a son, Boaz, who was an infant at the time of his death. On 29 April 1956 he was caught in a prepared ambush; Arab harvest workers began to reap wheat in the kibbutz's fields. After Rotberg saw them, he rode toward them to chase them off. As he approached, others emerged from hiding to attack. He was shot off his horse, beaten and shot again, then his body was dragged into Gaza. Rotberg's attackers included an Egyptian policeman and a Palestinian farmer. His body was returned on the same afternoon, badly mutilated, after United Nations intervention. Six months after his death, the Suez Crisis began with an Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and Sinai. After occupying the Gaza Strip, two suspects in Rotberg's murder, police sergeant Jamil Awad al-Qasim al-Wadih and farmer Mahmoud Mohammed Yousef al-Maziar, were arrested and brought to Israel for trial. In January 1959, they were convicted of Rotberg's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Their appeal to the Supreme Court of Israel was rejected in May 1960.
The eulogy
According to Jean-Pierre Filiu, following the killing, emotions in Israel "ran high", leading Dayan to travel to the kibbutz to give the funeral oration.
