Rivkah Jamil, 89, becomes fifth fatality of flareup with Gaza; was hospitalized in serious condition when hurt while seeking shelter.
A woman who was badly hurt while running to a bomb shelter in southern Israel in May during an onslaught of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip died of her injuries Sunday.
Rivkah Jamil, 89, of Ashkelon fell and injured her spine while seeking cover from the projectiles and was hospitalized in serious condition.
With her death in Barzilai Hospital on Sunday, the death toll from the weekend of intense fire two months ago climbed to five, the highest casualty rate for Israel since the 2014 Gaza war, which began exactly five years ago.
Jamil lost her husband in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. She was a mother of five and grandmother of 15, according to Hebrew reports. Her funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.
In all, over 600 rockets were fired at Israel by Palestinian terror groups during the flareup on May 4 and 5. A large number of the rockets were aimed at Ashkelon, a coastal city just north of Gaza.
In response, the Israeli military conducted hundreds of strikes from the air and land, including one highly unusual targeted killing of a terrorist operative whom the IDF said funneled money from Iran to terror groups in the Strip.
Three other Israelis in southern Israel were killed by rocket fire during the barrage, Moshe Agadi, 58, Zaid al-Hamamdeh, 47, and Pinchas Menachem Prezuazman, 21. Another man, Moshe Feder, 60, was killed by an anti-tank missile fired at his car from the Strip.
Palestinian medical officials reported 29 dead, including at least 11 terrorists, before a ceasefire between the sides took hold early on May 6.
