Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing

Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing
Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign
The attack site
Location	Haifa
Coordinates	32°47′49.9″N 34°59′3.13″E / 32.797194°N 34.9842028°E
Date	March 5, 2003
Target	bus
Attack type	suicide attack
Deaths	17 (+ 1 bomber)
Non-fatal injuries	53
Perpetrators	Hamas

The Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing was a suicide bombing carried out on March 5, 2003 on an Egged bus in Haifa, Israel. Seventeen passengers were killed in the attack and 53 were injured.^[1]Many of the victims were students from Haifa University. ^[2]

The Palestinian Islamist militant organization Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The suicide bomber was 20-year-old Mahmoud Umdan Salim Qawasmeh, a student at the Palestine Polytechnic University. An Israeli Arab resident of Haifa who helped plan the attack was also tried and sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement.^[3]

The attack

The attack occurred on March 5, 2003, when a suicide bomber from Hebron detonated a bomb hidden underneath his clothes on a bus carrying many children and teenagers on their way home from school.^[4] The bus exploded as it was pulling out of station on Moriyah Street, a main traffic artery near the Carmeliya neighborhood, heading from the Bat Galim neighborhood to the University of Haifa. The explosion occurred while the bus was packed with commuters. The attacked killed 17 people and wounded 53.^[5] Police said the bomb, strapped to the bomber's body, was laden with metal shrapnel in order to maximize the number of injuries.^[6]

Fatalities

Miriam Atar, 27, from Haifa Anatoly Biryakov, 20, from Haifa Smadar Firstatter, 17, from Haifa Daniel Harush, 16, from Safed Motti Hershko, 41, from Haifa Tom Hershko, 16, from Haifa Meital Katav, 20, from Haifa Elizabeth (Liz) Katzman, 17, from Haifa Tal Kehrmann, 17, from Haifa

Kmer Abu Khamed, 12, from Daliyat al Karmel St.-Stg. Eliyahu Laham, 22, from Haifa Abigail Litle, 14, from Haifa Yuval Mendelevitch, 13, from Haifa Be'eri Ovad, 21, from Rosh Pina Moran Shushan, 20, from Haifa Mark Takash, 54, from Haifa Asaf Tzur, 16, from Haifa

Aftermath

Spokesmen from Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the attack. "We will not stop our resistance," said Abd al-Aziz Rantisi of Hamas. "We are not going to give up in the face of the daily killing of Palestinians."^[5]

On 18 October 2011 Israel released three people convicted of planning the attack, Maedh Waal Taleb Abu Sharakh (19 life sentences), Majdi Muhammad Ahmed Amr (19 life sentences) and Fadi Muhammad Ibrahim al-Jaaba (18 life sentences), as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.^[7][8]

See also

• List of Hamas suicide attacks

References

1. Suicide bombing of Egged bus No. 37 in Haifa, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, January 21, 2004.
2. Haifa bus bomber kills 15, wounds dozens. Hamas terrorist carried letter praising 9/11 attacks in US; most casualties are students, Jerusalem Post
4. Mother tells of last call as families mourn bus bomb children, The Guardian, March 7, 2003.
5. Israel attacks Gaza as bus bomb kills 15, The Guardian, March 6, 2003.
6. Haifa suicide bombing
7. Dayan, Dani. "Prisoner list includes planners o... JPost – Diplomacy & Politics". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 19 October 2011.

External links

• Bus bomb Rocks Haifa - published on The Daily Telegraph on March 5, 2003
• Deadly bus blast rocks Haifa - published on BBC News on March 6, 2003
• Explosion rips through bus, killing at least 15 in Israel ; American among victims; lull in suicide attacks ends - published on the Boston Globe on March 6, 2003
• Memorial site of Liz Katzman
• Memorial site of Tal Khermann