Holocaust Survivor, 91, Dies of Injuries From Hamas Rocket Attack in May

A 91-year-old Holocaust survivor whose home in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza during the May fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has died from injuries suffered in the attack. Naomi Perlman died on Sunday, according to reports. She had been hospitalized at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon and then at a nursing home for the nine months since the rocket attack that also killed her Indian caregiver Santosh Sumaya. “If there is anyone who deserves to be called the ultimate survivor it is her,” her son, Shuki, told the Kan public broadcaster. Perlman is survived by a son, a daughter, eight grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. One of her great-grandchildren was born a month ago, and she reacted with a smile when she saw a photo of the new baby, according to her son. She suffered a great deal of pain from deep shrapnel wounds, according to reports, having arrived at the hospital after the attack with no pulse and no blood pressure. Perlman’s death brings to 15 – 12 Israelis and three foreign workers – killed during last year’s cross-border hostilities. Her home did not have a bomb shelter and she was too elderly to make her way to the nearest public shelter.