Yesterday we buried Sergeant First class David Schwartz, a resident of our town. He was killed in Gaza the afternoon before, along with 5 other soldiers. Three others from their unit were seriously wounded. It was the kind of tragedy that is sometimes called a work accident. David and his comrades were part of a combat engineer unit tasked with destroying sections of the Hamas built underground tunnel complex. The area where they were working was near a school. Hamas had built a rocket assembly plant under it. The tunnels had been cleared of items that the IDF wanted to keep, but there were still chemical protective suits and masks inside. There was also, apparently, still some stocks of raw materials for making rocket fuel. The engineers prepared explosive charges for collapsing the tunnel and were coming back above ground.
A separate unit of Golani Brigade infantry, supported by a tank, was assigned to protect the engineers from possible Hamas attackers. Someone spotted suspicious movement in a shattered building down the street. The tank turned its turret and fired a round from the big gun installed therein. The tank shell seems to have hit a part or wire from a damaged electrical supply support tower. Gaza had been without electricity since day one of the war. The tank shell exploded. The blast ignited the sensitive charges that the engineers had just placed. The explosion tore up the entire street, and made every one of the engineers a combat casualty.
David Schwartz was one of the dead. He was just 26 years old. His parents, wife, and five brothers led the funeral procession from Elazar to the regional cemetery where he was laid to rest. May his memory be a blessing.
Wetherhorn 