‘Funeral Instead of a Wedding’ for Terror Victim in Israel Shot Dead Weeks After Becoming Engaged

The victim of Thursday night’s Palestinian terror attack in Tel Aviv Eitam Megini, 27, became engaged three weeks ago to his girlfriend, Ayala.

Ayala’s mother said the family had planned to celebrate the couple’s engagement with a party on Friday evening.

“In this house, where we are now mourning, there was supposed to be a party this evening,” Lia Arad told the Walla news site.

“We are all devastated. They had started making lists for the wedding and had set up times to see venues,” she added. “He was all of our child.”

According to Arad, both her and daughter were trying desperately to reach Megini when they heard about the terror attack.

“We knew that if he hadn’t called to tell her he was ok, something had happened. I went to Ichilov [hospital]. From their faces I understood. Instead of a wedding, there will be a funeral,” she said.

Megini’s grandfather Hagai wept as he spoke about his grandson: “Eitam was a child like no other. He was always at the center of everything, he caused anyone looking at him to fall in love with him immediately. He was incredibly talented. In the army, he served in the submarines. He studied computers and neuroscience. Just about a month ago, on the Purim holiday, Eitam became engaged to his partner Ayala. I tried to reach him yesterday, and he did not answer.”

Eitam and his childhood friend Tomer Morad, 28, were killed when 28-year-old Palestinian terrorist, Raad Hazem from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, launched a shooting spree in downtown Tel Aviv. Hazem, who was in Israel illegally, had no criminal record and no known affiliations with terror organizations.

It was the fourth terror attack in two weeks.

Thursday night is the busiest night of the week for recreational activities in Israel, since the five day work week ends that day. Dizengoff Street, one of Tel Aviv’s main thoroughfares, is lined with bars and restaurants that are packed on a Thursday evening.

The gunman first opened fire outside Ilka, a bar with outside seating. The gunman then left the scene and continued shooting through a side street, narrowly missing another man who had left the bar after the attack began.

Ten people were rushed to Ichilov hospital with gunshot wounds. Four were in critical condition and four more were described as being in good to moderate condition.

One of the wounded who was hospitalized in “good to moderate condition” was Ra’anan Shimon, 32, who was drinking a beer at the bar when he was shot in the face. Medics described his situation as “a miracle” because the bullet entered his right cheek and exited the left one.

A nine-hour manhunt ensued with 1,000 police officers and security personnel deployed to the area. The manhunt ended when the terrorist was killed in a shootout by a mosque in Jaffa, a mixed Arab-Jewish city that is adjacent to Tel Aviv.

Residents of both cities, which share a municipality, were told to stay indoors as the terrorist was on the loose.