site of lightning strike
site of lightning strikeMDA spokesperson

Efrat Hazut's condition has improved after she and four other family members were struck by lightning at the Zikim beach on Tuesday.

Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, where she is hospitalized, said she was conscious and still in the intensive care unit.

Her brother-in-law, Asher, 14, passed away yesterday after being critically injured in the lightning strike.

The three other siblings who were injured in the lightning strike were released from the hospital.

Rabbi Yair Israel, head of the yeshiva where Asher studied, stated at the funeral last night: "It is forbidden to eulogize the dead at this time [in the middle of the Sukkot holiday], but it is difficult to stand here and see Asher, who was in the yeshiva for a month and ten days."

"Asher ascends in pureness after Yom Kippur. Our joy has turned to mourning. He learned nonstop, with a great desire for Torah. This is a very great sorrow. We merited to have Asher in our yeshiva for a short time. He was loved by all his brothers in the yeshiva, by everyone."