Over 1,000 mourners attend funeral of Cpt. Yishai Rosales at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem
Several hundred people attended the funeral of an IDF officer at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery Thursday after the man’s family invited the public to attend.
Captain Yishai Rosales, 23, was killed in an accident during a military training exercise on a base in southern Israel on Tuesday. He was laid to rest around 1 a.m.
The Rosales family, who immigrated to Israel from Mexico several years ago, made the appeal on Channel 2 television Wednesday evening, explaining that they had few family members in Israel.
Approximately 1,000 people turned out to pay their respects to Morales, according to Ynet. Many of those who attended were IDF soldiers in uniform and Israelis who immigrated from Latin America, Channel 2 reported.
“He was good to everyone,” his brother Michael told the TV station. “I don’t think there was a person that knew him that he did not help.”
“Yishai was a friend to everyone, an extraordinary person,” he added.
Michael said that his brother chose to serve in IDF’s Haredi Netzah Yehuda Battalion, in the Kfir Infantry Brigade, to preserve his religious identity.
“He came home last weekend, and went back to his base Saturday night,” he said. “Yesterday morning, we talked on our family WhatsApp group and he said he was doing field exercises and that he was fine.”
On Tuesday afternoon, a mortar round exploded during a routine drill on the Tzeelim base, located about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Beersheba, killing Rosales and lightly wounding another solider. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.
In response, the head of the IDF Ground Forces, Major General Guy Tzur, postponed all ground forces exercises until an initial investigation of the incident could be carried out, the army said in a statement.
Colonel Ofir Levy, head of a reserve armored brigade, will lead the investigation into the incident, the army said.
As reported by The Times of Israel