Four years ago, Afik Zahavi, four, and Mordechai Yosepov, 49, were killed when a Quassam rocket fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip struck near a Sderot nursery school at 8:15 a.m. June 28, 2008.
Ruth Zahavi, was taking her son Afik to the Lilach Nursery School, when the rocket landed and exploded. She was critically wounded in the rocket attack, along with ten other people who were lightly hurt.
At Afik’s funeral, his father, Yitzhak, prostrated himself on the small body and wept, “I love you Afik. I will see you everywhere. Look how many people are here accompanying you.” The boy’s mother remained in intensive care in Be’ersheba’s Soroka Hospital at the time.
Mordechai Yosepov was sitting on a bench near the school, where his two grandchildren attend, when the same rocket killed him. Yosepov came to Israel in 1993 from Uzebkistan. He was on his way to the Employment Service to find work when the Qassam rocket struck.
Mordechai Yosepov is survived by his wife, son, daughter, and five grandchildren. He was buried in the Sderot Cemetery.
Since January 2008, Hamas and various militant groups in Gaza have fired over 1,600 Qassam rockets and mortar shells at Sderot and the western Negev. Four Israelis have been killed this year alone in such attacks.
Thanks to Qassam Rockets Kill for supplementing information for this article.
