“I heard three shots. The windows completely shattered and you were no longer conscious,” said Shirel Nigri, 12, as she eulogized her mother Batsheva, 42, by recalling the moment of her death in a terror attack.
She recounted for the mourners in the Kfar Etzion cemetery the harrowing last moments of a car ride that began as a mother-and-daughter day out on Monday morning and ended with a late-night funeral.
Along the way, they had planned to stop at her Batsheva’s preschool classroom in the Efrat settlement to set it up for the coming school year.
But they only made it as far as the Beit Hagai junction close to the Palestinian city of Hebron when two terrorists sprayed the car with bullets.
Batsheva Nigri, the woman who was killed in a terror attack near Hebron on August 21, 2023. (credit: COURTESY OF THE FAMILY/MAARIV)Out of the three, the small black-haired girl was the only one to emerge unscathed, retaining enough presence of mind to call for an ambulance.
She told the emergency services operator, “they shot us, come quickly.’ My voice was tense. I was shaking.”
When the paramedics arrived, “they took care of you and paid you back for all the good you did for everyone,” Shirel said.
‘I envy all the angels who are privileged to have you in heaven.’
“You were the happiest person I know…You always said that your heart was wide and open to everyone,” Shirel said.
“Mom, I want to give you one last hug. I miss you and I will always miss you. You are always in my heart. I know that you are watching over me, even when I cannot see you. You always looked after me,” Shirel recalled.
“I am asking you, Mother, to take care of me, of Father, of all of us. And don’t ever leave me,” Shirel pled.
“I envy all the angels who are privileged to have you in heaven.
“I love you. I promise you that you will always be in my heart and my children will know what a lioness mother I had,” Shirel said.
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