Last update - 00:00 30/08/2007
Haifa man dies of critical wounds sustained during Lebanon war
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
Mohammed Salum, 41, died on Wednesday from critical wounds he sustained in a Katyusha rocket strike on Haifa during last summer's Second Lebanon War.
Salum's passing brings the the death toll from the war with Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah to 153 on the Israeli side.
Salum was critically wounded when a Katyusha rocket hit his family's home on Caesarea Street in the mostly Arab neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas. Salum suffered serious burns all over his body. The doctors fought for his life from the moment he arrived at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, and he had been kept in the hospital's intensive care unit since.
Munira, Salum's sister was by his bedside since the incident. "There were weeks when we felt that his condition may be improving and he was beginning to recover. My mother and I thought that he was coming back to us and we even made sure to modify the house in order to cater to his needs, removing staircases and enabling wheelchair access, but over the last week his condition worsened and we slowly felt that we were losing him," she said.
Salum's family also criticized the state's handling of their situation. "We still haven't received authorization for a new house, or compensation for the house that was destroyed," Munira said. "We are renting now, and every month we begin the process of obtaining authorization for compensation all over again, as if we are responsible for what happened. Now we are left without a brother and without a home."
The funeral procession will depart on Thursday at 4 P.M. from the spot where the Katyusha struck Salum. He was survived by a mother, a sister and three brothers.