TEL AVIV – An 89-year-old woman from the coastal city of Ashkelon passed away Saturday, succumbing to wounds sustained during a rocket attack on the city in May.
Rivka Jamil was admitted to Barzilai Medical Center in serious condition after sustaining multiple injuries when she fell while running to a bomb shelter.
Ashkelon was one of dozens of areas hit during a wave of rocket attacks in which more than 700 projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip in less than 48 hours.
“Mrs. Jamil was admitted to the hospital after she fell while running for shelter during rocket fire … in May. She injured her back and while she was hospitalized other problems emerged, which caused her condition to deteriorate and sadly, she died,” a statement from Barzilai hospital said.
Jamil’s husband, Salem, was killed in battle in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
She is survived by five children, 15 grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.
Jamil’s son Reuven told Israel’s Channel 12 news that his mother had died from a “hostile act.”
Jamil’s death makes her the fifth Israeli civilian to have been killed during May’s rocket barrage.
Moshe Agadi was the first Israeli civilian to be killed since 2014’s summer conflict with Gaza. The surge in violence also claimed the lives of Ziad Alhamamda and Pinchas Menachem Prezuazman — who both succumbed to shrapnel injuries — and Moshe Feder, who died from an anti-tank missile.
Sixteen Palestinians were killed in the ensuing retaliatory strikes, including several terrorists in charge of rocket-launching cells, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported.