Family members of border shooting victim slam PM

Victim of sniper fire near Gaza border fence, who was killed while working to repair fence, was on his first day on job. Family members say Netanyahu is to blame for shooting, as stalemate in peace talks is cause for escalation in region

Matti Siver |Published: 12.24.13 , 19:12

Salah Abu Latif, 22, is the man who was shot to death near the Gaza border fence on Tuesday. Abu Latif, who was shot by snipers while performing repair work to the border fence, is the first Israeli to die as a result of Gazan terror since Operation Pillar of Defense .

Abu Latif was working for a drilling company that was hired by the Defense Ministry to repair the fence. His grieving family told Ynet that Tuesday was his first day in his job.

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"We received the news with great pain," said Khaled Abu Layef, the victim's uncle. "He was planning a life and was renovating his house as he was about to get married in the summer. He was a flower picked before its time."

Killed on first day in job. Salah Abu Latyef

The uncle said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to blame for the region's security escalation due to the stalemate in the peace talks.

"Salah had his trust in the State, but it can't be trusted. Good job Bibi, another flower was picked because of his stubbornness. We must put an end to this."

Dozens of friends and family members of the deceased arrived at the emergency room in the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba, enraged at the fact that no police or IDF representative had arrived to assist with releasing the body for burial.

"Why is this taking so long?" one of his relatives asked, adding that "if he weren't Bedouin, everyone would help. He's an Israeli citizen who was working in the border fence in a dangerous place."

According to the family member, the incident was a testament to why the Bedouin public was disappointed with the Israeli establishment."

Majed Abu Latif, another uncle of the victim also added that the absence of officials was due to the fact that the victim was Bedouin and therefore inferior. "It's disrespectful," he said.