Daniel Trageman, 4, killed by mortar shell Friday, laid to rest

The funeral begins for Daniel Tragerman, 4, who was killed by shrapnel Friday after a rocket fired from Gaza exploded near his home at Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

A red alert warning gave the family just three seconds to reach a safe room, and Daniel did not make it in time.

Hundreds attend the funeral, including some government officials and at least one Knesset member, Miri Regev of Likud.

On Saturday, Daniel’s mother Gila said the family had been preparing to leave their home for safer areas when the attack came on Friday afternoon.

“The suitcases were already packed,” she said. “A minute before the explosion I went out to take Uri’s baby carrier (her young son) from the clothesline and met the neighbor. I asked him if they were leaving and told him we were setting off now. I went inside and there was the Color Red siren.

“The children were playing in a tent inside the house, and from the moment of the siren to the explosion only three seconds passed. We didn’t have time to get the children and go into the protected room.”

Gila said her son Daniel was very disciplined when it came to rocket sirens.

“He always rushed to the protected room,” she said. “The moment the alarm sounded he knew what to do and where to go. When everyone reached the protected room Daniel would say ‘now we’re all safe.’”

Tragerman called her son a “beautiful, smart, sensitive boy. So sweet…We wanted to watch him grow up with his brothers and fulfill himself.”