Yaakov Betzaleli, grandfather of Hila Betzaleli who was killed during rehearsals for last year’s Independence Day ceremony when a heavy lighting fixture collapsed, committed suicide on Wednesday.
According to reports, a team of Magen David Adom paramedics was called to the 74-year-old’s home in Ashkelon on Wednesday evening after receiving calls that a man’s lifeless body had been found. The paramedics rushed him to the Barzilai Hospital but the doctors were unable to save him.
Relatives told the Yisrael Hayom daily that Yaakov had not been able to come to terms with the death of his granddaughter and had been depressed for many months.