Israeli authorities named five of the seven victims in the deadly terror attack in Tel Aviv's Jaffa quarter on Tuesday.
Shahar Goldman, 30, a professional dancer from Lod, was named first on Tuesday night. Inbar Segev-Vigder, 33, a fitness center owner and mother of a 9-month-old baby from Jaffa was identified on Wednesday morning.
Segev-Vigder was reportedly killed while shielding her 9-month-old son, Ari, who survived the attack. Just hours before the shooting, she posted a prayer on Instagram for the safety of Israeli soldiers entering Lebanon.
Another victim of the Jaffa terror attack has been identified as Revital Bronstein, 24, from Bat Yam. An only child to her mother Liora, Revital was a distinguished master’s student in computer science. In high school, she won prestigious awards for her work in computing and artificial intelligence, and she was also a talented comic artist.
Nadia Sokolenko, 40, from Jaffa, a mother of one, was also killed in the attack. Her friend, Raffaella Goichman, paid tribute to her on Facebook: "My hands and body are shaking. My mind can’t grasp this. You were the walking definition of joy, light and cosmic optimism. You overcame so many obstacles, and we all know your life was a crazy obstacle course. But you always faced difficulties head-on. I will love you forever."
Another victim was Ilia Nozadze, 42, a Georgian national who was shot three times by the attackers. He was rushed to Sourasky Medical Center in critical condition, but later succumbed to his wounds. Ilia, a truck driver, lived in the city of Kashuri in Georgia with his wife and two children, aged 17 and 14. The Georgian embassy in Israel is handling the repatriation of his body for burial in his homeland.
Ionas Karussis, a 26-year-old dual citizen of Greece and Israel, was also identified as one of the victims. Karussis, a Jerusalem resident and architecture student in Tel Aviv, was the son of two Greek doctors working in Israel.
His father, Prof. Dimitrios Karussis, is a senior neurologist and head of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. The family moved to Israel from Thessaloniki in 1988. His mother, Ourania Vorka, is a pediatrician in Mevaseret Zion. Karussis’ aunt serves as a Greek diplomat, heading the consular office of Greece in Israel.
A childhood friend, Dennis, who met Karussis in middle school, shared memories of their long-lasting friendship. "We’ve been best friends since seventh grade, and our bond only grew stronger over the years. He was an only child, and I can’t imagine what his parents are going through. Ionas was the perfect mix of playful innocence and serious creativity, always able to see the big picture. He was a true friend, someone you could confide in, and even if he disagreed, his criticism was sharp but never hurtful," Dennis said.
Segev-Vigder's husband Yeari recalled the dramatic moments he learned about the attack. "I spoke to her minutes before the attack. I knew she was on her way home, and when I heard about the shooting, I called her, but she didn’t answer," he told Ynet. "I started looking for her. She was with our baby, Ari, and our dog. When I reached the scene and found our dog shot, I feared the worst."
Yeari eventually found his son, unharmed, at Wolfson Medical Center in the children’s ward. "He was safe, not a scratch on him, because he was strapped to her in the baby carrier. That’s our miracle," he said. "After hours of searching, the police came to inform me that she was killed. She was an amazing person, a wonderful mother who gave everything to Ari and to me."
A witness to the attack recounted seeing Segev-Vigder holding her baby in a carrier before she was shot. "A man came to help, and then we heard the baby scream. We pulled him from the carrier and got him off the train," she said. "A police officer took me and the baby to Wolfson in a patrol car. I kept asking about the mother, but they told me to focus on the baby."
Another survivor, 22-year-old Arik Marchenkov, who was shot twice in the back, described the powerful image of the mother cradling her baby as she bled. "It’s a miracle the baby survived, with all the bullets flying. The mother took the hits, and he was left unharmed," he said.
Shahar Goldman, another victim, had been married just over a year. Her mother, a well-known educator in Lod, and her sister Meirav, a musician with the Berlin Philharmonic, were devastated by the news. Meirav, who received the heartbreaking update in Germany, is en route to Israel.
Lod Mayor Yair Revivo paid tribute to Goldman, calling her "an international Latin dancer and an amazing woman from a remarkable family." He added, "This is not how we wanted to end the year. Shachar was brutally murdered in cold blood by vile terrorists. Our welfare teams are supporting the family, and we will stand by them through this tragedy."
The Jaffa attack claimed the lives of seven people and injured 16 others. An IDF soldier was among those critically wounded. The attackers, identified as Mohammed Mesek, 19, and Ahmad Himouni, 25, both from the West Bank city of Hebron, were in Israel illegally and were killed at the scene by light rail security guards and municipal emergency units, with the help of police and civilians. Following the attack, the IDF imposed a closure on Hebron.
Initial investigations revealed that one of the attackers was armed with an M-16 rifle, while the other carried a knife. They opened fire on passengers aboard the light rail before shooting at pedestrians on the street. The wounded were taken to Wolfson Medical Center in Holon and Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv.
Diana Svertsov, 19, an Olympic silver medalist from Paris, narrowly escaped the attack. Her mother, Anna, posted on social media that Diana had boarded the light rail in Jaffa just as the attackers did. "When they started shooting, she managed to hide and escape," her mother wrote.
Paramedic Eran Nissan, who lives next to the scene of the attack, rushed to aid the victims. While treating a woman shot in the arm, more gunfire erupted. "We dragged her to a back room and blocked the door," he said. "Others were with us, but I focused on treating her, and she remained conscious the whole time." Nissan later helped load her into an ambulance, hoping she survived.
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First published: 07:52, 10.02.24