Russian-born Denis Belenky, killed in Israel, covered his comrades with his body

One of those killed during the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was a native of the city of Baltiysk, Denis Belenky. He served in the Israeli police with the rank of sergeant. He died while trying to lead his colleagues out of the police station where the militants had entered. His family and friends told MK about our compatriot.

For Victoria, Denis is Denchik, a childhood friend. They grew up in the same yard and studied in the same class.

“We were friends, he was a very kind and positive guy,” Victoria shares with us. Now I’m telling you about Denis, and he’s standing before my eyes, smiling. I don’t remember him being gloomy or dissatisfied with anything at all. He tried to see only the good in everything.

Victoria says that she knows his mother Natasha and stepfather Uncle Sasha well.

As Denis’s friends say, he was very kind to his twin half-sisters who were born into the family. And in high school, together with his grandmother, he left Baltiysk for Israel to visit his father, who made a challenge for them.

The times were troubled, the Soviet Union collapsed, economic reform and price liberalization began – Yegor Gaidar’s “shock therapy”. Relatives decided that Denis needed to finish school in Israel. They wanted a better future for him.

At the age of 16 he found himself in another country. I had to learn the language from scratch. But, as friends say, his fighting character and cheerful disposition saved him.

Denis’s sister, Ekaterina, says that they all missed their brother very much. Denis helped raise his sisters, swaddled them, fed them, played with them. There was little space in the apartment; Denis had to do his homework in the hallway. The family experienced financial difficulties, but everyone lived together.

Mom, as Ekaterina says, constantly went to the telegraph office to order a telephone conversation and talk with her son.

“As soon as the opportunity arose, my brother came to Baltiysk,” says Katya. — He served in the army and went to work in the police. The work was hard, Denis had to see and experience a lot. But this did not affect his character in any way. He was still very cheerful, responsive, and sociable. When I came to Baltiysk, I picked up a guitar and went to bard song concerts. I actively communicated with friends.

On one of his visits home, Denis met his future wife Olya. She was divorced and raising her daughter Nastya. Denis accepted the girl as his own. Denis and Olga got married. The family settled in the city of Ofakim in Kibbutz Reim, where there were quite a lot of immigrants from the Soviet Union. Soon a daughter and a son were born into the family.

“We met Denis several times when he came to visit his mother in Baltiysk,” says Victoria. — He didn’t talk about work. Only about his beloved wife Olya, children, nature, flowers that he grew on the plot… He had late children. Our kids were already teenagers, and he just got a baby. For him they were all family, he didn’t single anyone out. For me, he remained a grown-up boy, a kind, nice little Denchik with a charming smile.

Victoria says that only years later she learned that she was his secret childhood love.

— When I was in Kaliningrad, I received a message from a classmate that Denis had died. And tears immediately began to flow.

Denis worked in the city of Sderot in southern Israel, on the very border with the Gaza Strip. They were the first to repel an attack by Hamas militants. Denis tried to save his colleagues who remained in the police station building where the militants entered. He took them out, covering them with himself. And he died. Five kilometers from the border with the Gaza Strip, the Nature Party rave festival took place, where militants also attacked the participants.

Catherine says that her brother was buried with honors as a hero. Denis was 47 years old.

Read the material “It’s very scary, there are no bomb shelters”: a Belarusian woman living in the Gaza Strip described the situation.”