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January 13, 2005
Six Israelis killed in attack at Karni
DAVID RUDGE
Four of the six people killed in the combined bombing and shooting at the Gaza Strip's Karni crossing point late on Thursday were laid to rest on Friday. The funerals of the two other victims are to be held on Sunday.
Three of those who died in the attack were residents of Sderot, which has been the target of numerous Kassam rocket attacks.
One of them, Dror Gezri, had been due to celebrate his 31st birthday on Friday and his family had prepared a cake to mark the occasion.
Gezri and the two other residents of Sderot, Herzl Shlomo, 50, and Ivan Shmilov, 52, as well as another victim, Ofer Tiri, 23, of Ashkelon, all worked for the Ports Authority at the Karni crossing point.
The two other victims, Munam Abu Sabih, 33, of Dabburiya village near Mount Tabor in the lower Galilee, and Ibrihim Khalil, 46, of Umm el-Ghanem, were truck drivers who had driven to Karni to unload produce destined for Palestinians in Gaza.
All six victims had been helping in their own way to operate the crossing point that provides a lifeline to Palestinians in Gaza and allows the transfer of medicines, food and other commodities.
Abu Sabih and Khalil were laid to rest in the cemeteries of their respective villages on Friday, around the same time as the funerals of Shlomo and Shmilov, one after the other, in the Sderot cemetery.
Hundreds of people attended the funeral of Shlomo, who worked as a fork lift operator at the crossing point after recently retiring from a lengthy service in the IDF.
Shlomo, a veteran resident of Sderot, was described by relatives and friends as a quiet man who helped others.
"He was a family man who kept to himself," his brother-in-law, Elias Gabai, told reporters.
Shlomo had called his wife and said he expected to be home at the usual time, around 11 p.m.
He is survived by his wife Zehava and three children, a son and daughter who are serving in the IDF and another daughter who is in high school.
Shmilov, who was also laid to rest in the Sderot cemetery on Friday, immigrated to Israel with his family more than 10 years ago. He lived in a building that was one of the first to be hit at the start of the Kassam rocket attacks on the township.
"He went to work to provide for his family and he did not return. He was a hard working person who loved his family," a close friend told reporters on Friday.
Shmilov is survived by his wife and two children and three grandchildren.
Gezri is to be buried at the Sderot cemetery on Sunday, around the same time as the funeral in Ashkelon of Ofer Tiri.
Residents of Sderot called on the government to do everything necessary to remove the threat against the Negev town.
In Memoriam
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