American wounded in Tel Aviv terror attack dies

Daniel Wultz, the 16-year-old American tourist who was critically wounded in the Pessah suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, died of his wounds on Sunday, the Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) in Tel Aviv said.

The passing of Wultz brings the death toll in the attack to 11, only two days after another victim, 26-year-old Lior Enidzer, succumbed to extensive wounds suffered in the attack. Enidzer′s death came a mere two weeks after his marriage to his wife Maya.

Wultz is to be flown home for burial on Monday.

He suffered severe blood loss from his wounds and was treated by an experimental drug NovoSeven. He continued to be attached to a respirator, but was able to communicate with his family by batting his eyelids. Even then, however, doctors stressed that his life was still in grave danger. He ultimately lost consciousness again during the past week and suffered multiple organ failure.

Two weeks after the attack, 48 eighth-graders from his Miami school in Weston, Florida, assembled at the Sourasky Medical Center to pray for Wultz′s recovery.

Tuly (Yekutiel) Wultz, who was lightly wounded while seated beside his son at the eatery where the bombing occurred, also spoke to the students. "Unfortunately, I remember everything," he said. "Daniel was thrown into my hands, and asked me to pick him up. But when I saw the extent of his injuries, I laid him down to wait for an ambulance. I held his hand and told him I loved him, and he told me he loved me."

Daniel′s mother Cheryl was on her way to meet her husband and son when the attack took place, and has been at his bedside ever since. His sister Amanda, a college student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, arrived in Israel with Cheryl′s mother, Margie Cantor, several days later. Additional family members from the US had also arrived to offer their support.

The other victims included Philip Balahsan, 45, from Ashdod, a father of two children who were wounded as well; Victor Erez, 60, from Givatayim; the restaurant′s security guard Binyamin Hafuta, 47, from Lod; Ariel Darhi from Bat Yam; Lili Yunis, 42, from Oranit; David Shmuelov, 28, from Holon; Piroshka Boda, 50, and Rosalia Basalia, 48, both Romanian citizens.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded nearly 70 people.
The same restaurant was hit in a suicide attack three months ago, wounding 20 people, one of whom is still hospitalized in serious condition in Ichilov Hospital.