TEL AVIV – The four victims of Wednesday’s terror attack in Tel Aviv have been identified respectively as a university professor, a mother of 4, an engaged woman, and an ex-commando.
42-year-old Ido Ben Ari from Ramat Gan, 39-year-old Ilana Naveh from Tel Aviv, 58-year-old Michael Feige from Midreshet Beersheva, and 32-year-old Mila Mishayev from Rishon Lezion were killed when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire inside a restaurant in Sarona, an outdoor shopping and dining complex in Tel Aviv.
Sixteen others were wounded in the attack with three still in the intensive care unit at Ichilov Hospital. The hospital’s spokesman also said that one of the terrorists is receiving treatment after being shot by a security guard.
Ben-Ari, a father of two, served in the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal unit before taking up a senior position at the Coca-Cola Company’s Israel branch.
Coca-Cola released a statement saying the company “mourns the tragic loss of our friend Ido Ben Ari, a victim of this horrific act. We send our condolences and warmest wishes to the family.”
Ben-Ari’s wife was injured in the attack and admitted to a hospital in serious condition on Wednesday night. Her condition has since stabilized, Army radio reported.
The couple were eating at the Max Brenner restaurant where the shooting took place.
Like the Ben-Ari’s, Naveh, a mother of four, was dining at Max Brenner. She was celebrating her 40th birthday.
Thirty-two-year-old Mishayev was waiting for her fiancé to arrive at the restaurant. Mishayev was shot in the abdomen and later died of her injuries, but not before placing a call to her fiancé.
Feige was a father of three and a professor of Israel studies at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba.
The Times of Israel reported that according to one of his students, Elisheva Goldberg, Feige was a “really nice professor.”
“He wasn’t one of those stuck-up academics, he was very approachable, very human and personable,” she said. “He always asked people’s opinions, he was never rude, even when someone asked a stupid question, and he always made sure we understood what he was speaking about.”
Wednesday’s attack marks the third deadly attack in Tel Aviv in 2016. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the scene of the attack and vowed “decisive action” against those responsible.