Beit Shemesh youth dies 10 days after Gaza missile attack

Daniel Viflic, 16, was critically injured when the school bus he was riding on was directly hit by an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza Strip.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
School bus anti tank attack 311 (photo credit: Baz Ratner/Reuters)
School bus anti tank attack 311
(photo credit: Baz Ratner/Reuters)
Daniel Raphael Viflic, the 16- year-old who was critically wounded in an anti-tank missile attack on a school bus in the Negev by Hamas terrorists 10 days ago, died on Sunday after a steady decline in his condition.
The missile hit the bus moments after most of the children got off, while it was traveling near Kibbutz Sa’ad, about 2.5 km. from Gaza. Just two people were on the bus when it was hit – the driver, who was lightly injured, and the boy, who was en route to visit his grandparents.
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Viflic, who was traveling from his home in Beit Shemesh, suffered severe head trauma and was rushed to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba, where he was treated in the pediatric intensive care unit.
On April 12, the severity of his condition was downgraded to extremely critical and doctors expressed concern that he had suffered irreparable brain damage.
His funeral took place on Sunday night in Beit Shemesh.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called Viflic’s parents to express his condolences.
The “entire nation is grieving with you. Israel will not rest until it brings to justice the murderers who attacked Daniel,” Netanyahu told the parents.
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.