Israeli woman wounded in Gaza conflict dies

An Israeli woman wounded in rocket fire from Gaza during last May’s conflict between Israel and the Palestinian enclave’s Islamist rulers Hamas died of her wounds Sunday, the army said.

“Hamas fired 4500+ rockets at Israeli civilians over 11 days in May 2021,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

One of the rockets wounded “Holocaust survivor Naomi Pearlman,” it said. “Today, she sadly succumbed to those injuries and became another victim of Hamas terrorism.”

Pearlman, born in Poland in 1931, had survived the Holocaust before moving to Israel, her daughter said.

The death brings the number of people killed in Israel in the conflict to 14, including Soumya Santosh, Pearlman’s 32-year-old Indian caregiver, the foreign ministry said.

Over 250 people were killed in Gaza, according to the United Nations.

Tensions in Jerusalem had sparked Hamas rocket and mortar barrages at Israel, which responded with hundreds of airstrikes.

A fragile ceasefire came into force in late May.

Israel has maintained a blockade on the impoverished enclave since 2007, the year Hamas took power.

Israel says the Gaza blockade is necessary to guard against threats from Hamas, but critics blame it for dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.