Dozens of volunteers helped the widow of a fallen soldier locate his wedding ring after she lost it on a beach in Ashkelon last week, the Hebrew media outlet Ynet reported Sunday.
Gal Moreno was wearing the wedding ring of her late husband Itay Moreno, who was killed fighting terrorists on the beach at Zikim in October, on a chain around her neck while at the beach in the southern Israel city on Friday when it disappeared.
After news of her loss got out, dozens of volunteers mobilized to scour the beach, using metal detectors to try and locate the ring.
“This is the ring Itay wore after our marriage, and since he died I’ve been wearing it around my neck,” Moreno told the news outlet hours before the ring was found on Sunday.
“One moment it was on my neck — I saw it in a picture I took — and suddenly it fell off. I hope and pray that they find it. I won’t stop looking and hoping. We have a wonderful and amazing nation; a lot of people mobilized to help me,” she added.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
The Israel Antiquities Authority allowed the volunteers to expand the search into territories under its jurisdiction.
Eli Escusido, the director of the Antiquities Authority, told Ynet that as soon as the organization “received a request on the subject, we immediately approved a search to be carried out by licensed volunteers, and we received a large and moving response. We will help as much as necessary to find the item.”
After the ring was found on Sunday afternoon, Moreno thanked the authority for approving the search, and all the volunteers who gave up their time to assist in the efforts.
Master Sgt. (res.) Itay Shlomo Moreno, 24, from Aderet, served as a soldier in the Maglan commando unit and was killed battling Hamas terrorists along the Zikim beach on October 11.
He was buried on October 12 in the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, and is survived by his wife, Gal, his parents Tamar and Moshe, and his siblings Adi, Eitan and Noa.
His uncle, Lt. Col. Emmanuel Moreno, a special forces commando, was killed fighting in Lebanon in 2006 at age 35. To this day the IDF has never published a photo of the legendary combat soldier, due to the sensitivity of the operations in which he took part.
pdcc