An Israeli singer has been killed while fighting in the Gaza Strip, just weeks after he auditioned to be considered for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Shaul Greenglick, 26, performed on Israel's Rising Star television series on December 3 while on furlough from his mobilisation in the war against Hamas.
Dressed in army fatigues and lieutenant's stripes, he sang a popular ballad and was green-lit for the next round in the selection process.
One of the judges, Keren Peles, told Mr Greenglick on the stage: "I'm happy to see you wearing a uniform, because it's reassuring that someone like you is in uniform. I would be happy to see you representing Israel at Eurovision."
But Mr Peles, writing after Mr Greenglick's death in northern Gaza clashes on Tuesday was published, said he had dropped out of the show because of his duties in the infantry reserves.
In a December 14 post on Facebook, Mr Greenglick said: "I imagined this year differently, as a year of aspiration and of living my dreams.
"Now I'm living an old dream, of fighting for the country...a new, different dream will have to wait a bit."
At least 166 soldiers have been killed in Israel's Gaza offensive, launched after Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped around 240 in its south on October 7.
More than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to Gaza's Hamas-run healthy ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.
The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted in May in Malmo, Sweden.There have been calls for Israel to be expelled from competing in the show because of the war - as Russia was after the invasion of Ukraine.
As this has not happened, several leaders have faced demands to boycott the competition completely.
Just a few days ago, Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar rejected these calls, saying: "For us to unilaterally boycott something … just because Israel is there, to me that’s biting off your nose to spite your face."
He also said that not allowing Israel to participate could "ostracise" Jewish liberals.
Mr Varadkar added: “We just need to have regard to the possibility that by ostracising their country or by demonising their country or excluding their country from international life that we might actually make it harder for them to make the case for peace, to make the case for human rights within Israel, which is something they’re trying to do and they find very hard in the current environment."
