Amid Mortozov, victim of Iranian cluster bomb strike, laid to rest in Petah Tivka
Mortozov, 40, eulogized by his son as a caring father: ‘You always took care of me, you were always with me. I promise not to disappoint you’
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Amid Mortozov, who died of wounds he suffered in an Iranian cluster bomb strike in central Israel on Monday, was laid to rest in Petah Tikva on Wednesday.
Mortozov, 40, was fatally wounded while working at a construction site in Yehud when one of the cluster bomb munitions from an Iranian ballistic missile struck the area. Rustam Gulomov, 61, was killed and Mortozov was taken to the hospital where he died of his wounds a day later. The pair were not in a bomb shelter or other protective space, according to first responders.
Mortozov, a resident of Petah Tikva, is survived by his wife and their three children, ages 15, 12 and 4, according to Hebrew media outlets. He is said to have moved to Israel with his family in 2007 from Azerbaijan.
“Dad, I know that you’re looking down now from heaven,” his son, Jubran, said at his funeral, according to the Ynet news site. “I want to tell you that I miss you so much. You gave me everything, hope and belief. You always took care of me, you were always with me. I promise not to disappoint you.”
He promised that “from now on I’ll do what I have to, I’ll watch over Mom and my sister and brother.”
Also speaking at the funeral, Mortozov’s brother, Emil, said “he was a good person. We were close, as brothers. So many people came to pay their respects. He was a good father to his children — if only all parents could be like him,” according to the Israel Hayom daily.
Emil said the family still didn’t understand what had happened on Monday: “He was responsible and always went with his wife and kids to the shelter. We don’t know exactly what happened at the construction site and why they didn’t go to a shelter.”
Mortozov and Gulomov were the 11th and 12th victims of Iranian missile attacks on Israel since the start of the war last month. A strike on Tel Aviv on the first day of the war killed Mary Anne Velasquez de Vera, a caregiver from the Philippines.
And a missile impact in Beit Shemesh killed nine civilians, including multiple children: Ronit Elimelech, Sara Elimelech, Yaakov Biton, Avigail Biton, Sara Biton, Gavriel Baruch Ravach, Oren Katz, Bruria Cohen and Yosef Cohen.
Two IDF soldiers were also killed while fighting against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon: Sgt. First Class Maher Khatar and Staff Sgt. Or Demry.
The Times of Israel Community.