His last journey: Hundreds of Ashkelon residents accompanied the late Lieutenant Shai Ailey, a cadet in Bahad 1 and a soldier in Unit 669 who fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip. The residents held Israeli flags and stood with them throughout the city.
Ailey z"l saying goodbye to him in his hometown, photo: Eldad Ovadia and IDF Spokesperson
Mayor Tomer Glam eulogized him: "Shai was one of the best sons and daughters of the city. Whenever he set a goal for himself, with a high direction, he always got where he wanted. When we weep for His fall, we cry for all the good that has come from us. About who and what he could have been."
"Shai, the youngest member of his family, will no longer come home, he will no longer hug his mother or sit down for small talk with his father, he will no longer laugh and laugh as he would have known, he will no longer dream or fulfill. He would not marry or build a home in the land he loved so much, the land for which he fell.
"Dear family, the sorrow has no end. From the moment you heard the knocking on the door, your world collapsed on you, the colors blurred, everything turned gray and a hole opened in your heart. A hole that nothing can ever fill.
"Words can't comfort you, but words are all we have. Each and every one of the residents of Ashkelon asks today, on this terrible day, on the day when the worlds have been turned upside down and you bury your son, your beloved - on this day we wish to comfort you, embrace you and support you. To stand shoulder to shoulder with you, to look into your tearful eyes and salute you for your unbearable sacrifice.
"From now on, you are part of the bereaved family, too big a family. A family you didn't choose to be in. A family whose best sons and daughters sacrificed their lives for us. For the sake of our lives in our country. For the sake of our life in our city.
"We're not eager to fight. But in the face of human scum, the cruel terrorist organizations that do not shy away from any means - we are determined and ready to defend our homeland and our future in the land of our forefathers.
"Shai, Ashkelon salutes you. God will raise your blood and the blood of all our heroic and pure warriors. May your soul be bound in the bundle of life forever," Glam wrote.
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