Five-Year-Old Israeli Boy Killed in Rocket Strike in Sderot
by Algemeiner Staff

Five-year-old Ido Avigal. Photo: Twitter Screenshot
Ido Avigal, a five-year-old Israeli boy, was fatally wounded on Wednesday after a rocket fired by Gaza terrorists struck a residential building in the southern city of Sderot, and pronounced dead later that night, the Israeli outlet N12 reported.
Six other people were also injured, Walla news said, including a 40-year-old woman and four-year-old boy who were moderately wounded, as well as the boy’s mother, who remains hospitalized.
“I came from shopping, I ran home and there was a huge boom,” a neighbor told the outlet. “There was smoke and fire and then we saw that the boy was injured and they came to rescue him.”
A social worker at Barzilai Hospital, Aliza Lev, said, “We’ve had some difficult events, but to bring in a grandmother to identify her grandson because the mother is injured and cannot do so — it broke me. The mother can not identify [the boy] and the father has not yet arrived because of the air sirens. A very difficult day for me.”
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted a photograph of the boy late Wednesday, writing, “I would like to send my deepest condolences, on behalf of all the citizens of Israel, to the Avigal family on the murder of Ido, 6, from a rocket hit today in Sderot. We all pray for the well-being of his mother and sister who were injured tonight. This is a vile murder committed by the terrorist organization Hamas. They paid a heavy price and they will pay a heavy price.”
Editor’s note: this article has been updated to correct Avigal’s age.