'His life is a meaningful life, and his death is a meaningful death': Thousands turn out for funeral of 18-year-old US voluntary worker Ezra Schwartz who was shot dead in the West Bank

• Ezra Schwartz, 18, among three killed in West Bank shooting last Thursday
• Thousands gathered for funeral of volunteer worker in his home in Boston  
• American teen shot dead in one of two attacks by Palestinians last week
• Separate attack on the same day saw one knifed to death in Tel Aviv 

By Sara Malm for MailOnline

Published: 04:53 EST, 23 November 2015 | Updated: 08:24 EST, 23 November 2015

More than 1,500 people gathered to honor 18-year-old Ezra Schwartz, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank last week.

The teenager from Boston, Massachusetts was shot dead along with two others on Thursday after a Palestinian fired an Uzi submachine gun at cars in a traffic jam in the West Bank.

On Sunday family, friends and mourners attended his funeral in Sharon, near Boston, where many paid emotional tributes to the volunteer worker.

Honored: Hundreds gathered for the funeral of 18-year-old  Ezra Schwartz, a volunteer worker who was shot in an attack in the West Bank, in Sharon, Massachusetts on Sunday

Killed: Ezra Schwartz, an 18-year-old from Boston who was spending his gap year in Israel, was among three people slain in a wild drive-by-shooting in the West Bank on Thursday

In mourning: Friends and family members carry the casket of Ezra Schwartz to the hearse, which is followed on foot to Sharon Memorial Park for his burial on Sunday

The Temple Sinai of Sharon was filled to the brim, with dozens of mourners forced to stand outside the hall as family members shared their memories of Ezra.

Officiating the funeral was Young Israel of Sharon rabbi Meir Sendor, who said that his wife - who was Ezra’s former kindergarten teacher - used to come home with humorous 'Ezra stories' and would refer to him as a boy 'who could not be contained,but in the very best way'.

'His life is a meaningful life, and his death is a meaningful death', Sendor said repeatedly, as he detailed Schwartz’s lengthy community service and commitment to others.

'Ezra gathered everyone together, and unified everyone together,' said Sendor. 'His greatness is how he used his strength to comfort others with great gentleness', he added.

Ezra was one of five siblings and his older sister Mollie told the temple how he had always looked out for her and their three younger brothers.

'You played and played with our brothers until there was no playtime left. I’m going to try to be happy for the both of us from now on,” she said, according to Times of Israel.

More than a dozen family members and mentors eulogized Ezra during the two hour ceremony, paying tribute to a young man with 'boundless energy' who would 'make friends with anyone'.

'His life ended abruptly as he was on a mission of chesed [loving kindness]. Our family will never be complete again, his mother Ruth said. 

Tribute: 'An 18-year-old American boy studying in Israel before college was murdered today by Palestinian terrorists,' the AJC-Global Jewish Advocacy group posted on its Facebook page

Tragic twist: Along with a group of his friends, Schwartz, (pictured center) was on his way to deliver food and candy to IDF soldiers in the area when he was shot

Caught up: At the time of the attack, the young men, which included Ezra, were travelling to deliver food to the soldiers patrolling the area

The New England Patriots football team will observe a minute of silence before its game overnight Monday against the Buffalo Bills, in memory of Ezra Schwartz. 

Ezra was among at least five people killed in two separate terrorist attacks in Tel Aviv and the occupied West Bank last Thursday.

He was visiting Israel as part of a project that brings volunteers from around the world to work for nine-and-a-half months.

The volunteers from a Jewish religious school in Beit Shemesh spend their mornings studying in yeshiva and conduct volunteer work in the evenings.

In the morning, the volunteer group visited a memorial for the three Israeli teens kidnapped and killed in the West Bank in June 2014. 

Afterwards, they arrived in the area to distribute food to soldiers serving in the Etzion sector of the West Bank, which is when their car was hit.  

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the attacker's car stopped when it hit another vehicle and the driver was seized - he said the other two people killed were a Palestinian and an Israeli. 

Loved: Friends of Ezra Schwartz attend a private ceremony, before his body was repatriated to Boston for burial, at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday

Mourning: Young men in tears at Ben Gurion airport, where dozens had gathered to honor the teenager

The Israeli military said the motorist 'intentionally' rammed his vehicle into a group of pedestrians. 

A police commander said a Palestinian drove along the shoulder of a main road and shot at crawling traffic. 

The military said forces at the scene shot at the attacker, 'identifying a hit,' although the attacker's condition was not known. 

At least seven other people were wounded, a medical source said. 

The attack took place in Gush Etzion, an area south of Jerusalem, and took place just hours after a knife attack in a Tel Aviv office building, leaving two people dead.

 In the Tel Aviv attack, a knife-wielding Palestinian man fatally stabbed two Israeli men an office building before being apprehended, police and witnesses said.

The car Ezra was travelling in was hit by a hail of bullets as he was caught up in a drive-by shooting that left three people dead. Here, Israeli forensic policemen inspect the bullet holes on the windshield

Thursday's first attack took place in a busy commercial building on Ben Tzvi road in southern Tel Aviv

Security officials said the Tel Aviv attacker was a 36-year-old man from the West Bank

Israeli security forces patrol the surroundings of a stabbing attack. The attack killed two people, while the Palestinian assailant was injured and arrested, Israeli police said, in the first such incident in several day

Police said the stabbing took place in a shop on the second floor of an expansive office building where a group of Israelis had gathered to hold afternoon prayers.

Shimon Vaknin, a witness, told reporters that a bloodied man stumbled into the room where he prayed with companions in Tel Aviv.

'He was stabbed outside, he was all slashed and bloody. We were in shock. We didn't know what happened and then someone near the door shouted there's a terrorist,' Vaknin said. He described a dramatic standoff with the worshippers standing against the closed shop door as the assailant tried to force his way in. 

Samri said the attacker was apprehended by civilians and identified him as Raed Khalil bin Mahmoud, a 36-year-old Palestinian father of five from the West Bank village of Dura, near Hebron.

It was not immediately clear what he was doing in Tel Aviv, although many Palestinians are granted permits to work in Israel. Israeli Channel 2 TV said the man worked illegally at a nearby restaurant  

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