Ella Abukasis, 17, laid to rest

JPost: Prayers accompanied Ella Abukasis as she left the world Friday morning.

Abukasis, 17, died at 9:00 a.m. at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. She was critically wounded when a Kassam rocket exploded as she and her siblings were returning from a Bnei Akiva youth group meeting in Sderot on Saturday.

She was laid to rest at 12:30 p.m. on Friday in Sderot.

Her 11-year-old brother, Tamir, was also wounded in the attack, as shrapnel lodged in his head. He was spared a worse fate when his sister dove to protect him after hearing the warning siren.

"She protected him with her body..." Ella's father told Israel Radio.

UPDATE: A reader from Beersheva wrote that I had not named the girl correctly. She was called Ella in this JPost article, but the article does later clarify:

According to the Jewish custom of adding names with positive connotations to seriously ill people, Ella became known as Ayala Chaya after the attack. "Chaya" means living.

I apologize for any confusion.