The Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing was a
suicide bombing carried out on 5 March 2003 on an
Egged bus in
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. Seventeen passengers were killed in the attack and 53 were injured.
[Suicide bombing of Egged bus No. 37 in Haifa]
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( he, מִשְׂרַד הַחוּץ, translit. ''Misrad HaHutz''; ar, وزارة الخارجية الإسرائيلية) is one of the most important ministries in the Israeli government. The ministry's ...
, 21 January 2004. Many of the victims were students from
Haifa University
The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming I ...
.
The Palestinian Islamist militant organization
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...
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
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...
resident of Haifa who helped plan the attack was also tried and sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement.
The attack
The attack occurred on 5 March 2003, when a
suicide bomber
A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...
from
Hebron
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...
detonated a bomb hidden underneath his clothes on a bus carrying many children and teenagers on their way home from school. 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 University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...
. The explosion occurred while the bus was packed with commuters. The attack killed 17 people and wounded 53.
[Israel attacks Gaza as bus bomb kills 15](_blank)
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 6 March 2003. Police said the bomb, strapped to the bomber's body, was laden with metal shrapnel in order to maximize the number of injuries.
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."
In response, Israeli helicopters killed Hamas leader
Ibrahim al-Makadmeh and three of his bodyguards.
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
The Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange (; ), also known as "Wafa al-Ahrar" (''"Faithful to the free"''), followed a 2011 agreement between Israel and Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners — almost all Pales ...
.
[http://www.shabas.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/09ED13AD-30EB-4F28-8FEA-7A9EDB0F9119/0/listeng1.xls ]
See also
*
List of Hamas suicide attacks
References
External links
Bus bomb Rocks Haifa- published on
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
on 5 March 2003
Deadly bus blast rocks Haifa- published on
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
on 6 March 2003
Explosion rips through bus, killing at least 15 in Israel ; American among victims; lull in suicide attacks ends- published on the
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
on 6 March 2003
Memorial site of Liz Katzman Memorial site of Tal Khermann
{{Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Mass murder in 2003
Suicide bombings in 2003
Islamic terrorist incidents in 2003
Israeli casualties in the Second Intifada
Terrorist incidents in Israel in 2003
Terrorist incidents in Haifa
March 2003 events in Asia
Hamas suicide bombings of buses
Islamic terrorism in Israel