Former Israeli pro soccer player Lior Asulin was killed after his country was attacked by Hamas terrorists over the weekend. At the time of his death, he was celebrating his 43rd birthday.

Asulin was partying at a “nature party” music festival at a resort near Kibbutz Re’im when terrorists opened fire. Shots killed the footballer and many others, according to reports. According to one witness who survived the attacks from the day, about 50 terrorists in military gear arrived in vans and started shooting at anyone in sight.

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“They fired bursts, and we reached a point where everyone stopped their vehicles and started running,” the survivor said. “I went into a tree, a bush like this, and they just started spraying people. I saw masses of wounded people thrown around and I’m in a tree and trying to understand what’s going on.”

Who was Lior Asulin?

Auslin signed a four-year contract in 2007 with the Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer team. The team released a statement on X that they’re deeply saddened by his death. His former Bnei Sakhnin coach Eyal Lachman added that Asulin was “a guy with a heart of gold, that was his most outstanding characteristic.”

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“They always said that his most outstanding characteristic was to give back, I saw that the most outstanding characteristic was to give his friends his soul,” he said.

Auslin played for several teams during his pro soccer career. He was one of the top strikers in the Israeli domestic league in 2004. He scored 88 goals and won the 2004 Israeli Cup with Bnei Sakhnin.