Shraga Hasid, 77: Paratrooper who liberated Jerusalem in Six Day War

Grandfather killed by a rocket strike in Ashkelon on October 9 while visiting a wounded friend

Shraga Hasid, 77, from Mazkeret Bayta, was killed on October 9 by a rocket which hit Ashkelon as he was visiting a friend who had been wounded during Hamas’s assault on southern Israel.

Hasid, who was married to Shlomit and a father of four and grandfather of 12, was visiting a friend at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon who had been wounded by Hamas in Netiv Ha’asara, according to his family. Shortly after he left the hospital, he was killed when a rocket fired from Gaza slammed into the ground just a few feet away.

Friends and family described Hasid as someone who was always wearing a smile and his signature suspenders, who loved to tell Yiddish jokes and was the dedicated gabbai, or sexton, of his synagogue. He was remembered as one of the paratroopers who liberated Jerusalem during the Six Day War in 1967, and as a fighter in many of Israel’s other wars.

Hasid’s son-in-law, Ido Weiss, described him as “my second father.”

“Shraga fought in all of Israel’s wars, he was one of the liberators of Jerusalem during the Six Day War,” Weiss wrote on Facebook. “A smiling man, beloved by all, hopelessly optimistic and a proud and loving grandfather to his grandchildren. We are pained and can’t believe he is no longer with us, and are comforted that we were privileged to know such a special person.”

Gaby Gaon, the mayor of Mazkeret Batya, described Hasid as “a man of values and generosity, a loving family man and wonderful grandfather… a happy man with suspenders and a mustache, with a sense of humor and Yiddish jokes. He was an avid lover of archaeology and the history of the Jewish people.”

Hasid’s friend, Gideon Israeli, wrote on Facebook about his late friend, “a father, a grandfather, a brother, a friend… a kind grandfather with suspenders, a paratrooper, a farmer, a hard worker, an entrepreneur.”

“Shraga was a happy man, with a sense of humor, a man of family and friends who was taken from us cruelly too soon,” he wrote. “His memory is with all of us.”