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21-year-old Israeli American killed by Gaza rocket laid to rest in Jerusalem

“I don’t understand why this is happening, but I am sure that you have fulfilled your purpose on this earth,” says Haim Dov Pashwazman, the father of Pinchas Menahem Pashwazman.

The scene where a 21-year-old man was killed by shrapnel when a rocket from the Gaza Strip hit an apartment building in Ashdod on May 5, 2019. Photo by Flash90.
The scene where a 21-year-old man was killed by shrapnel when a rocket from the Gaza Strip hit an apartment building in Ashdod on May 5, 2019. Photo by Flash90.

Pinchas Menahem Pashwazman, 21, was laid to rest in Jerusalem late Sunday night. A dual American and Israeli citizen, he was killed earlier in the day by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip while running to a bomb shelter in Ashdod.

He leaves behind a wife and young child.

His father, Haim Dov Pashwazman, said at the funeral, which was attended by hundreds of people, “I don’t understand why this is happening, but I am sure that you have fulfilled your purpose on this earth.”

“I had a great blessing to raise you for 21, nearly 22 years,” he added.

Pashwazman was the fourth person killed by the barrage of rocket fire directed against Israeli civilian centers in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Yavneh, Beersheva, Gadera, Sderot and the Gaza periphery between Friday and Sunday night.

Earlier in the day, 47-year-old Bedouin Israeli Zaid al-Hamamdah was killed when a rocket slammed into the factory in Ashkelon where he worked, and 68-year-old Moshe Feder was killed by an anti-tank missile from Gaza fired at his car.

On Saturday, Moshe Agadi, a 58-year-old father of four, was killed when a rocket hit his Ashkelon home.

At least 10 others have been wounded by shrapnel from the hundreds of rockets, missiles and mortar shells that have been fired from Gaza, according to Magen David Adom emergency medical services.

More than 600 rockets were fired at Israel in just 48 hours, with 234 Israelis being treated in Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon and Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva.

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