Haifa attack victims mourned

The eight civilian victims, killed in a Hizbullah rocket attack on a Haifa train depot Sunday morning, were:

• Reuvan Levi, 43 year-old from Kiryat Ata
  
• Danis Lapidos, 24 year-old from Kiryat Yam
  
• Shmuel Ben Shimon, 41 year-old from Yokneam Ilit
  
• Nisim Elhariri, 43 year-old from Kiryat Ata
  
• Asa'el Damti, 39 year-old from Kiryat Yam
  
• David Feldman, 28 year-old from Kiryat Yam
  
• Sholomi Mansura, 35 year-old from Nahariya
  
• Rafi Hazan, 30 year-old from Haifa
  

The depot building suffered a direct hit, which wounded an additional 23 people. Six of them were in serious condition.

Reuven Levi left behind a wife, Tirza, and their 14-year-old son Almog. Meir Ben Simon mourned the death of his friend: “Reuven was a good friend, he always came to work, even when he was sick. He was responsible and devoted.” Levi lived in the Kiryat Herzog neighborhood of Kiryat Ata.

His uncle, Shimon Levi said he was “a good soul,” and added that his mother-in-law had begged him not to go to work that day. But, “His life was the train, and ended there too,” he said. A date for his funeral was not yet set.

An atmosphere of deep grief prevailed in the Damati family in Kiryat Yam. The Damatis lost 39-year-old Asael in the attack. “I can’t understand why God punished me twice,” moaned his father Meshulam Damati, who lost another son 11 years earlier to illness. Asael was survived by his parents, Meshulam and Shoshana, his wife Tali and their one-year-old daughter Danielle, as well as two brothers and a sister.

Family members, friends and train employees set up a mourning tent in the yard. Moshe, Asael’s brother-in-law, couldn’t believe the tragedy. “A week ago we celebrated Danielle’s first birthday, and now she’ll grow up without a father.”

Damati, Carmiel born, was a career soldier for many years, until he started working at the train depot six years ago. According to his family, he was very patriotic. “He volunteered to join the fight in Lebanon, but they told him to go home, and be on call. He said they could call him on weekends so other soldiers could go home,” his family said.

Rafi Hazan with his wife (Reproduction photo: Yaron Brenner)

Rafi Hazan who was also killed Sunday morning, married Vered just 1.5 months ago. His friends said that just two weeks ago he and his wife moved into their first home together in Carmiel. Hazan was the youngest of four brothers. His father passed away and he stayed to live with his widowed mother. “He was a good and considerate neighbor, was always dressed nicely. He studied at the university too. He was a good kid,” said a neighbor.

When David Feldman’s mother, Luba, heard that the train depot was hit, she immediately started searching for her son’s name on the list of wounded. “I didn’t find his name, but he wasn’t answering his phone either, and I knew something bad had happened,” she said.

Tears streamed down her face as she recalled, “He was a good boy, a good soul. In two weeks he would have been 28. He was supposed to marry his girlfriend Carmit soon, they were already looking at wedding halls.”

Ahiya Raved, Aviram Zino and Attila Somfalvi contributed to the report.