Man killed in Ramat Gan rocket fire was disabled, unable to reach shelter
The 55-year-old who died in a direct rocket hit to his home had been ignored by the welfare system and should not have been living alone, according to his one surviving sister.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFPolice and rescue personnel at the site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ramat Gan, on May 15, 2021. (photo credit: TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)
The 55 year old resident of Ramat Gan who was killed by rocket fire on Saturday was disabled, lived alone, and had nowhere to run to, according to his sister, Haaretz reported. Gershon Franko was killed in a direct rocket strike to his home on Saturday afternoon, and was the 10th Israeli victim of the ongoing Israel - Gaza escalation. Amid claims that he did not attempt to seek shelter during the rocket sirens on Saturday, his sister has come to his defense, saying that he could not possibly have a reached a protected area in time.Franko was a cancer patient, whose many medical treatments left him disabled with no means to support himself financially. In the past five years he lost his mother, father, and younger sister, all to cancer. These events, combined with his own illness, left him homeless and unable to care for himself."He was thrown into the street," his brother in law said. "He had nowhere to live and nobody paid any attention to him." In an interview with Ynet, Ramat Gan Mayor, Carmel Shama Ha-Cohen, said that if Franko had listened to the Home Front Command's instructions he could still be alive now. This claim was disputed by his one surviving sister, however, who said that "he was 100% disabled with many medical problems, including severe leg pain, and this may have prevented him from running to the shelter during the alarm yesterday.""Nobody cared about what he was dealing with," she added.Franko lived alone in a single housing unit without proper protection, and according to his sister he was not equipped to be living in such circumstances; he should have been in an assisted living system but had been ignored by the municipality and the welfare system."My heart aches for him," she said. "He was so lonely, and only now people remember him, after he has been killed."
