Tel Aviv terror victim Or Eshkar succumbs to wounds

Or Eshkar, 32, died on Monday from a bullet wound sustained during a terror attack in Tel Aviv on March 9.

Eshkar was wounded when 23-year-old Palestinian Mutaz al-Khawaja, a Hamas member from Ni’lin beyond the Green Line, opened fire outside a cafe on the corner of Dizengoff and Ben-Gurion streets in the city center.

The terrorist also shot Rotem Mansano, 34, and Michael Osdon, 36.

“We hoped and prayed. Unfortunately, Or Eshkar, who was wounded in the attack in Tel Aviv, died today,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The heart breaks. I send condolences to his family and friends. May his memory be for a blessing,” he added.

The three Israeli friends were on their way to a wedding when they were attacked by al-Khawaja, who fled the scene while firing at other people before being killed in a shootout with police officers.

“Or came to us after extensive resuscitation attempts in the field, which were ongoing in the hospital, and he was immediately taken to the operating room where against all odds doctors managed to stabilize his condition,” said Roni Gamzu, director of Ichilov Hospital.

“Unfortunately, the ... wounds were fatal, and after a lengthy struggle over a number of days ... we were forced to declare his death,” he added.

The attack was the latest in a wave of terrorism to strike Israel.

On Sunday, a terrorist opened fire at a car on Route 60 in the Arab village of Huwara, just outside Nablus, seriously injuring 41-year-old David Stern. Stern was able to shoot and partially incapacitate the terrorist, identified as Leith Nazar, 28, a resident of the village of Madama near Nablus (biblical Shechem).

On Feb. 26, a Palestinian attacker gunned down brothers Hallel Menachem and Yagel Yaakov Yaniv, also on Route 60 in Huwara.

The next day, Palestinian terrorists killed Israeli-American Elan Ganeles near the Beit Ha’arava Junction, close to Jericho in the Jordan Valley.

Earlier in February, a terrorist attack in Jerusalem’s Ramot neighborhood claimed the lives of Yaakov Israel Paley, 6, his brother, Asher Menachem Paley, 8, and 20-year-old Alter Shlomo Lederman. Three days later, Border Police Staff Sgt. Asil Sawaed, 22, died from wounds sustained in a terrorist attack at a checkpoint to Shuafat in Jerusalem.

On Jan. 27, seven people were killed and several others were wounded in a terrorist shooting rampage at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood.