Gedaliah Mellick was born in Jerusalem on June 13, 1980, to Penina and Simcha. Gedaliah grew up in Kiryat Arba, and studied at the Hebron Talmud Torah and the religious school in Kiryat Arba.
In his youth, he was a counselor in the Bnei Akiva movement and was involved in guiding marginalized youth in poor neighborhoods. Later he was active in the Gesher movement, and worked in partnership and connection between the religious and the secular. In 1998-99, Gedalia studied at the pre-military academy for leadership in Ma’ayan Baruch in the Upper Galilee, where he became acquainted with the Golani project and in November 1999 he joined the Golani Brigade, the “HaBokim” battalion. 51. Before Operation Defensive Shield at the end of March 2002, Gedaliah immediately volunteered and went to his unit, which fought as a front force in Ramallah. When he entered the computer room, he, checked terminals and began to dismantle the drives that contained important information exposing the Palestinian Authority’s connection to the use of terror,
He was a poet, writer and pianist, as well as a computer expert. Gedaliah called himself a humanitarian fighter, always making every effort not to harm innocent people. He was killed on April 9, 2002, in Jenin when Palestinian fire hit a grenade he was carrying during Operation Defensive Shield. He is buried at Hat Herzl and is survived by his parents, two brothers and a sister.
