Ezra Schwartz, an 18-year-old American yeshiva student, was gunned down by a Palestinian terrorist Thursday while delivering food to lone IDF soldiers in Gush Etzion. Quoting his seventh-grade dean, Aliza Baronofsky, the school said Schwartz “brought with him a playfulness that enabled him to bring joy to the lives of others and inject humor into ordinary moments”. “He has all of the wonderful qualities of his parents and grandparents”. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a release.
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One of Schwartz’s favorite pastimes was skiing, according to a family friend from Sharon. Reports said that midday prayers were taking place at the time, and that the attacker had attempted to enter the synagogue but had been prevented by worshippers.
One man died at the scene and two were injured; one later succumbed at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Later, three people were killed in a shooting and vehicle attack in the West Bank. Four people were lightly injured in the attack.
The incident occurred at a junction near the Gush Etzion block of Jewish settlements, according to police.
The Israeli military said the attacker then intentionally rammed his vehicle into a group of pedestrians.
Earlier in the day, a Palestinian man was arrested after stabbing and killing two Israelis and wounding another who were engaged in mid-day prayers, Israeli media reported. “May the Schwartz family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem”, it wrote.
Schwartz, a recent graduate of Maimonides School in Brookline, was mourned by his school.
The death of his grandson “is too much to bear”, Mark Schwartz told Sydney Perry, CEO of the Jewish Federation Of Greater New Haven and a close friend. He noted that he was particularly saddened by news of Schwartz’s death. “His murder was a senseless, vile act of cowardice and terror”, the organization said in a written statement.
Goodwin also said that both at the Maimonides School, from which Schwartz graduated, midday assemblies were held to break the news to students, after which classes were cancelled and they were permitted to leave school and go home to grieve. “We were horrified to see Hamas leaders celebrate his killing and appalled at their incitement of hatred and violence towards Jews”.
Another of the victims reportedly was a Palestinian.
In yesterday’s clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli forces, 11 Palestinians were wounded near Ramallah, eight in Hebron and 14 on the Gaza border.
The two attacks shattered almost a week of calm in Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a November 9 meeting with US President Barack Obama, was said to have spoken of measures aimed at easing tensions amid the wave of Palestinian attacks.
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“There can be no justification for a spate of deliberate deadly attacks by Palestinians on civilians over the past week in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories which displayed a clear contempt for human life”, the organization said. “We must not allow this wave of terror to continue”. “There is no immunity for terrorists”, he said.
