Amid mourning, family names baby born after terror attack
The newborn son of Tzeela Gez, the 30-year-old woman killed in last week’s terror attack, was named this morning in a special ceremony at the Gez family home in Bruchin.
Tzeela Gez was killed in a Palestinian shooting attack on May 14, 2025 while on her way to the hospital to deliver her baby. Photo courtesy the family/TPS-IL
Relatives are still observing the traditional seven-day mourning period.
The baby was named Ravid Haim, a name his mother had already chosen, according to a family statement.
Close friends, Bruchin’s rabbi Meir Hilowitz, and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan attended the ceremony. It concluded with the singing of Psalms and a call for public prayers for the baby, who remains in serious condition at the Schneider Children’s Medical Centre of Israel in Petah Tikva. “He is in need of much mercy from Heaven,” the family said.
The traditional circumcision ceremony, when Jewish boys are typically named, could not be performed due to the baby’s condition.
Tzeela Gez, who was in the ninth month of pregnancy, was shot when a Palestinian fired on Israeli vehicles travelling on Route 446 near the town of Bruchin, in northern Samaria. She was travelling with her husband, Hananel, to deliver their fourth child. Doctors performed an emergency cesarean section in a desperate effort to save both mother and child.
On Saturday, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian who was “running toward the forces while holding a backpack suspected of being booby-trapped” in the area of Bruchin, the Israel Defence Forces said. The military is investigating the possibility that he killed Gez.
According to the IDF, of the 6,000 wanted Palestinian terror suspects arrested in Judea and Samaria since October 7, 2023, more than 40% are affiliated with Hamas.
