Eliav Elbaz

Eliav Elbaz was born in 1981 in Dimona

Eliav Elbaz was born and raised in Dimona. He is married to Yael and has 3 children. He holds a bachelor's degree in government, diplomacy and strategy from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and a master's degree in political science from the University of Haifa.

He joined the IDF in 1999 and volunteered for the Paratroopers, serving in Battalion 202. He fought in southern Lebanon, led a platoon in Operation Defensive Shield, and later commanded companies in the Second Intifada and the Second Lebanon War. He then served in the Maglan unit as head of its training section and as deputy commander.

He commanded Battalion 890 from 2015 to 2017 and the Paratroopers training base from 2017 to 2019. In 2019 he became a colonel and commander of the Shualei Marom Brigade. In 2021 the chief of staff, Aviv Kochavi, reprimanded him and delayed his promotion by a year over the 2019 death of a pre-recruit during a Paratroopers tryout under his command.

From 2021 to 2023 he commanded the Binyamin Brigade. In 2022 he shot dead a young Jewish man with special needs who had taken a soldier's weapon, suspecting him of being a terrorist. In 2023 he ordered the arrest of Jewish protesters he said had attacked him, and 2 courts found his account not credible and ordered their release.

In 2024 he became commander of Bahad 1, the officers school. In 2026 he took command of the Sinai Division in the Southern Command as a brigadier general.