(Previous Incident Code: PALIS001e)

One Israeli civilian was killed and as many as seven injured when alleged Hamas militants fired a rocket struck the city of Ashkelon southern Israel on the 11th May, 2021, according to local reports.

Nella Gurevitz (between 52 and 57 years old) was killed and her husband injured, when a rocket reportedly fired by Hamas struck their apartment according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Israeli media outlet Ynet named Mrs Gurevitz husband as Gregory, and described his injuries as light.

BelarusFeed reported that Nella and her husband were from Belarus and “the mayor’s office also clarified that Nella Gurevich was 57 years old and that the couple immigrated to Israel in 1990. The journalist of the Israel Segodnya newspaper contacted the neighbours of the family, who said that the couple was always friendly with them, but led a rather secluded life, the spouses did not have children. They confirmed that the couple came to Israel from Belarus.”

“I know Nellie as a very sympathetic person, she always tried to support me and other people. We shared interests in music, we both once graduated from a music school. It was a shock for me to find out that she was dead, I will miss her,” said Nella’s friend Anna Litrovnik.

As many as five other people were lightly injured by shrapnel, according to Haaretz.

Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed they carried out the strikes that resulted in casualties, posting in their Telegram channel that “A while ago, Al-Qassam Brigades bombarded occupied Ashkelon with a salvo of S40 missiles” and a bit later “The occupation officially acknowledges the killing of 2 of its [settlers] as a result of the recent Qassam bombing of Ashkelon.”

The local time of the incident is unknown.