Ori Peretz, 43, was identified Thursday as the civilian killed in a direct rocket strike in Nahariya.
Peretz, who owned a café near the city hall, is survived by his wife, Hagar, and three children, ages 8, 6 and 4. According to police, he was passing through the area on his bicycle and tried to reach a protected space in a nearby building but did not make it in time.
Peretz’s café, known as “Social Justice,” was described by friends as a local gathering place. “A heavy sorrow has fallen over Nahariya,” Tzipi Dadia wrote on Facebook. “A man with a huge heart and a constant smile, who knew every customer and brought warmth and generosity to every encounter.”
The Nahariya municipality said in a statement that it “embraces and strengthens his parents, wife, children and the entire family in this difficult time,” and wished a full recovery to those wounded in the attack.
In the same strike, a man in his 50s was critically wounded after reaching the building but failing to enter a protected room. Thirteen others were lightly injured by shrapnel and blast impact. Sirens sounded at 4:01 p.m., and the rocket struck near a six-story residential building.
“It all happened very quickly,” a witness at the scene said. Another nearby resident described “massive explosions,” adding that the missile landed in the building’s entrance courtyard and set vehicles on fire.
Earlier, the military cleared for publication that Sgt. Aviaad Elchanan Volansky, 21, from Jerusalem, was killed by anti-tank fire in southern Lebanon. Volansky was the son of Brig. Gen. (res.) Yair Volansky, the defense establishment comptroller, and the grandson of Rabbi Oded Volansky. He was named after his uncle, who was killed in a 2002 attack.
In the morning, it was also announced that Staff Sgt. Ori Greenberg, 21, a Golani reconnaissance soldier from Petah Tikva, was killed overnight in combat in southern Lebanon. His family decided to donate his organs.
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Staff Sgt. Ori Greenberg, and his family beside his coffin
(Photo: AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
His team commander, Lt. Daniel Buzaglo, eulogized him, saying he “always carried a shy smile and lifted spirits even in difficult moments.”
At his funeral, Greenberg’s father urged the public to honor his memory through acts of kindness. “That is the right way to remember who Ori was,” he said.