Nation to honor 23,320 slain soldiers, terror victims next week

116 people, 72 of them in Protective Edge, were killed in past year.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Sgt. Max Weinberg laid to rest in Jerusalem‏ (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Sgt. Max Weinberg laid to rest in Jerusalem‏
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Israel will mark Remembrance Day for 23,320 soldiers and victims of terrorism on Tuesday evening, including 116 who lost their lives during the past year.
Last summer, 67 soldiers and five civilians were killed during Operation Protective Edge, leaving behind 11 widows and 26 children. Two soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah missile attack in January. In addition to the 116 recently killed, 35 disabled veterans succumbed to their wounds and were recognized as IDF fallen this year.
There is a total of 553 soldiers whose place of burial remains unknown, including the Golani Brigade’s St.-Sgt. Oron Shaul, from Poriya, who died in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, a Hamas stronghold, last summer.
The Defense Ministry said the cumulative casualty toll includes 9,753 bereaved families, 4,958 widows, and 2,049 orphans aged up to 30.
The Ministry’s Families and Commemoration Branch expects 1.5 million Israelis to visit military cemeteries during Remembrance Day, from Tuesday evening until Wednesday evening. The country’s 52 military cemeteries will be ready to receive them, it said.
At 8 p.m. on Tuesday evening, a memorial torch-lighting ceremony will take place at the Western Wall, attended by President Reuven Rivlin and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot.
At 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the state ceremony will take place at the Kiryat Shaul Cemetery, in the presence of Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
At 1 p.m., a ceremony honoring the victims of terrorism will take place at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, in the presence of Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Eisenkot.