Tapuah Junction terror attack victim Yehuda Guetta laid to rest

The funeral of Yehuda Guetta, one of the three 19-year-olds injured in the terrorist drive-by-shooting at the Tapuah Junction, took place on Thursday morning at the Heichal Yaakov synagogue in Kiryat Moshe. He succumbed to his wounds late Wednesday night, and was buried on Thursday at 11 a.m.

Guetta died just hours before his attacker, 44-year-old Muntasir Shalabi, was arrested in the town of Silwad.

A resident of Jerusalem, Guetta had been a student in the Itamar Yeshiva. He is survived by his parents, four brothers and two sisters.

Jonathan Pollard and Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef arrived at the funeral to address the crowd. 

"Yehuda in the last few days, we worried as you fought for your life, we prayed from the depths of our hearts that you would overcome your wounds, and across the entire country we begged for your recovery, but this morning, to our great sorrow, these prayers have turned to a eulogy," the Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, said solemnly.

"Our hearts are broken - but our spirits are strong," Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, said, calling upon the government to establish a settlement near Tapuah Junction in Guetta's memory.

In an interview with Israel media, his mother recalled the attack and her last moments with her son, "My sister called me and told me to check if Yehuda was alright because there was an attack at Tapuah Junction...I didn't think it was him. I called and he didn't answer. I called Beilinson's emergency room and they said he was there and I should come..."

"We were fortunate to part with him properly and that he stayed with us a few more days," she concluded. 

His friend at the Yeshiva, Nechemia Lotkin described Guetta as a "quite and gentle," individual who told many jokes, in an interview with Army Radio station on Thursday morning. "We are still in shock, it's taking a lot of time to digest," he said. 

"My heart goes out to the Guetta family who lost Yehuda tonight, only 19-years-old, who was shot during the heinous terrorist attack at the Tapuah Junction," a statement by Defense Minister Benny Gantz read. 

"I'm sending a courageous hug, strength, and prayers to comfort the family of Yehuda Guetta, who was murdered in a shooting at Tapuah Junction. How much pain and sorrow that he was taken like this..." President Reuven Rivlin passed on his condolences to the family as well.

"We will not stand aside while cruel terror rears its head, and we will fight all the way, with perseverance and determination," the president added.