Mr Uzi Gal, the inventor of the Uzi submachine gun, died over the weekend at the age of 79 after a long illness.
Mr Gal, an Israeli army officer, developed the prototype of the Uzi after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and the first 9-mm version was presented in 1954.
Two years later, it was mass-produced by Israeli Military Industries (IMI) and became one of the Jewish state's most popular exports.
The Uzi and some more compact versions developed over the years were adopted by police and military in over 90 countries in the world.
Its revolutionary design made it one of the landmark weapons of the 20th century, with more than two million sold since its creation.
AFP
