Terror Attacks - Chabad Terror Victims Project

Four Year-Old Killed By Mortar Shell Laid to Rest As 570 Rockets Fired on Israel in 5 Days

Sunday, August 24, 2014 - 10:40 AM

Thousands attend funeral as 570 rockets are fired on Israel in 5 days.
Mother: 'We want to thank you for teaching us to love.'

Four-year-old mortar shell victim Daniel Turgeman

Four-year-old mortar shell victim Daniel Turgeman - Courtesy of the family

Four year-old Daniel Tragerman, hy"d, the victim of Friday's mortar fire on Kibbutz Nahal Oz, was laid to rest Sunday morning at the Hevel Shalom cemetery in the Eshkol Region.

Daniel's mother Gila eulogized him.

"I do not understand what's going on at all, sweetie," Gila stated. "I cannot believe I'm here to say goodbye."

"We were the happiest family in the world and I do not accept this," she added. "My Daniel, we want to thank you for teaching us to love, to smile, and for giving us many moments of joy in such a short time. You're smart, sensitive, beautiful."

"I find comfort in that you were a child who was loved, and who was happy, until his last moments," she continued. "We wanted to protect you, but even the 'code red' siren did not protect us."

"God in heaven, strengthen us, give us the strength to continue," she concluded. "We left you your Spiderman costume you loved so much [...] we don't want to say goodbye."

President Reuven Rivlin also spoke at the funeral, and carried Daniel's casket.

"[Daniel] has paid the price of living in Israel in blood," Rivlin stated, addressing Daniel's parents. "No one has the right to require you to stay here, but we assure you that you are not alone."

Daniel was reportedly at home when the shell was fired Friday, directly hitting a car that was parked near the home. Unfortunately, Daniel did not have enough time to reach a secure area and was hit by shrapnel.

Magen David Adom crews who were called to the scene tried to resuscitate Daniel but were unsuccessful and pronounced him dead.

Early Saturday, the IDF clarified the circumstances of Daniel's death, saying Hamas terrorists from its "military wing," the Al-Qassam Brigades, had fired the deadly mortar shell from a site "adjacent to the Jafar Ali Ibn Taleb school in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City."

An army statement early Saturday said the facility served as a "shelter maintained by Hamas authority", correcting an earlier statement in which it had stated it was an UNRWA-operated facility.

By Yedidya Ben-Or, Tova Dvorin IsraelNationalNews.com

First Publish: 8/24/2014, 10:09 AM / Last Update: 8/24/2014, 1:17 PM

Photos: Flash90

As Rockets Continue Raining Down on Israel - CTVP Continues Helping Others

Friday, August 22, 2014 - 3:37 AM

Trying to get children out of the line of fire, supporting families and soldiers in ways they can, while continuing the visits to the wounded and bereaved. CTVP is implementing a three-pronged emergency initiative

As more and more rockets have been fired by Hamas into the south of Israel—setting off air-raid sirens in communities all over Israel, including Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv—representatives of the Chabad Terror Victims Project continue their efforts, trying to help in any way they can.

According to project director Rabbi Menachem Kutner, “the situation continues to be very tense. More than 100 rockets have fallen here yesterday. Thank G‑d, there have been no casualties.”

Summer-camp programs have been canceled, and children and their parents have been told to remain at home so that they are near shelters. CTVP representatives have been visiting homes and bringing treats for the children to help entertain them and take their minds off the fear they are experiencing.

“It is a very anxiety-filled situation, never knowing when or where the next rocket will hit. You can feel the tension everywhere" reports Rabbi Yossi Swerdlov. “We are also continuing our visits to soldiers near the front lines, the ones who are still in the hospitals and the families who have lost loved ones .”

In response to the onslaught of violence, Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Gaza—where Hamas is launching rockets— targeting Hamas leaders.

Chabad Terror Victims Project volunteers help combat soldiers don tefilln.

CTVP is continuing its three-pronged emergency initiative

As such, CTVP is continuing a three-pronged emergency initiative that includes (1) coordinating with all of centers in the region to organize activities and visits to bomb shelters to support children families; and (2) keeping up a steady stream of volunteers going to the front lines to boost the morale of the soldiers, as well as give them spiritual and physical nourishment. (3) visiting the wounded soldiers in the hospitals and the bereaved families.

“It is impossible to budget for emergency situations like this,” Swerdlov adds. “The lives of many Israelis are in total disarray, and we must do all we can at this time.”

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Jerusalem rocked by two terror attacks

Monday, August 4, 2014 - 3:52 PM

Raw: Excavator Used in Jerusalem Bus Attack

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian killed an Israeli and overturned a bus with a construction vehicle on Monday and a gunman wounded a soldier in attacks in Jerusalem....

There were no passengers on the bus, in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of the city. Surveillance video broadcast on Israeli television showed the yellow excavator's mechanical arm tearing into the side of the bus as it lay on the sidewalk.

Police identified the driver of the digger as a Palestinian from East Jerusalem and described the incident as a terrorist attack. Police officers shot him dead, and TV footage showed the man's body hanging out of the excavator's cabin.

Several hours later, a gunmen fired at a soldier, wounding him in the stomach, a few minutes' walk away. Police said the assailant then jumped on a waiting motorcycle and sped away.

"We very much suspect that this was a terrorist attack," said Yossi Parienti, Jerusalem district police chief, told Channel Two television.

A high alert was also called in Israel's commercial hub, Tel Aviv. Police set up road blocks in the city, causing widespread congestion, although they were later removed.

Tensions have been high in Jerusalem for the past month over the Gaza war and the killing of a Palestinian teen in the city by alleged Israeli assailants out to avenge the deaths of three abducted Israeli youngsters in the occupied West Bank.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for Monday's attacks in Jerusalem.

But a spokesman for Hamas, the dominant group in the Gaza Strip, said: "We praise the heroic and brave operations in Jerusalem, which come as a natural reaction to the crimes and massacres by the Occupation against our people in Gaza."

Describing the excavator incident, Parienti said the vehicle "hit a Jewish citizen at a construction site and then drove about 50 meters (yards) down the road, where it overturned the bus with its arm, slightly injuring three people".

Ultra-Orthodox Jews watch the scene of an attack in Jerusalem, Monday, Aug. 4, 2014. An Israeli-decl …

Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said the nearly four-week-old Gaza war had raised fears of attacks in Israeli cities.

"From the moment fighting started in the south, we realized such an incident of a lone attacker can happen, and such tractor attacks are familiar in Jerusalem," Aharonovitch said on Channel 2 television.