By Aryeh Savir
JERUSALEM (TNA) — Sgt. Shahar Shalev, aged 20, a fighter in the elite Paratrooper Recon Unit, died Sunday morning, August 31, of wounds he incurred during Operation ‘Protective Edge’. Shahar is the 72nd Israeli casualty of the operation and the 66th soldier to fall.
Shalev was operating with his unit in Khan Yunis when it was hit by a road-side bomb on July 23rd. Three other soldiers were killed in the incident; Lieutenant Paz Eliyahu, 22, of Kibbutz Evron, Staff Sergeant Lee Matt, 19 of Eilat, and Staff Sergeant, Shahar Dauber, 20 of Kibbutz Ginegar. Shahar’s right leg had to be amputated because of his injuries one week ago. He fought a courageous battle to survive the severe wounds he incurred, but succumbed to them this morning.
Shalev, from Alonei HaBashan in the Golan Heights, is survived by his parents Shimon and Naomi, who were at his bedside throughout his medical battle of survival, and his five siblings. He is the first resident of Alonei HaBashan to fall during his service in the IDF.
Last week, a special platelet drive was conducted for Shahar, who required a platelet transfusion daily. There was an overwhelming public response to the call.
Sgt. Natanel Maman, a 22-year-old IDF soldier who was critically wounded by shrapnel from a rocket that exploded next to Gan Yavneh in the Ashdod region, died of his wounds on Friday morning (Aug. 29) at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. He was laid to rest at the Gan Yavneh cemetery the same day.
Elsewhere, Arab terrorists executed two attacks against Israeli civilian targets Sunday morning, August 31. No injuries or fatalities were reported in both incidents.
In the first attack, an explosive device exploded at a bus station on the Rechelim Junction, a major route in Samaria. No one was injured, and police sappers were called in to search for further explosive devices. No suspects were immediately apprehended.
In a separate incident, two pipe bombs were thrown at cars at the Jeet Junction, near Kdumim. The area was covered by screws used as part of the bombs.
These attacks were the most recent in several perpetrated in the past days. On Saturday night, Aug. 30, Arab terrorists threw a Molotov cocktail at “Beit Meyuhas,” an historical Jewish home in the City of David area, just south of Jerusalem’s Old City. A 45-year-old Israeli man was hospitalized after suffering first and second-degree burns to his head.
*
Savir is a staff writer for the Tazpit News Agency in Israel