A British-born IDF soldier, killed in Gaza on Sunday, “died with a pure soul”, his family has said.

Sgt. Binyamin Yehoshua Needham, who had turned 19  just two weeks before, was killed by Hamas during fighting with the Combat Engineering Corps of the 601st Batallion. He had entered Gaza on Friday.

Binyamin, who moved to Zichron Ya’akov in northern Israel from Edgware with his family when he was eight, had only recently completed his training.

His sister, Orli Ferris, said: “He was such a wonderful, wonderful brother, and we loved him with all our hearts, and we always will.”

In an interview with the Daily Mail, she added: “He will be missed by all of us and so many others, but we will always make sure we remember him in our hearts.

“Nothing will be the same now, but we are all very proud of what he did, and he was also proud of what he was doing.”

The martial arts fanatic was the youngest of six children of Faye and Amnon and known affectionately as “the baby of the family”.

Orli said that the family was “heartbroken” and that her parents were “devastated”, adding: “We can’t make any sense of it.”

Binyamin was due to be buried at a military funeral in Haifa today. “We shall honour him and keep his memory alive. He was a wonderful boy and everyone who knew him said the same,” said Orli. “He died with a pure soul, and he died protecting his country.”

In a statement, the IDF said it “shared the family's grief” and would continue to support them.

According to Israeli media, Binyamin had been killed along with comrade sergeant Ben Zussman, 22.

Reports said that two other soldiers were injured and that all the terrorists were killed.

Since October 7, 401 Israeli soldiers have been killed, including 75 during the ground operations in Gaza.