Two consecutive

suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

s were carried out by

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

militants on 30 July 1997 at the

Mahane Yehuda Market Mahane Yehuda Market (), often referred to as "The Shuk" (), is a marketplace (originally open-air, but now partially covered) in Jerusalem. Popular with locals and tourists alike, the market's more than 250 vendors sell fresh fruits and vegetable ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, the city's main open-air fruit and vegetable market. Sixteen people were killed in the attack and 178 were injured.

The attack

On Wednesday, 30 July 1997 at 1:15 pm, two

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

suicide bombers who carried bags laden with explosives and nails detonated their explosive devices 45 meters (150 feet) apart almost simultaneously in a central alley in the popular outdoor market, killing 16 civilians, among them an Arab resident of

Eilabun Eilabun ( ''Ailabun'', , ) is an Arab Christian village located in the Beit Netofa Valley around south-west of Safed in northern Galilee between Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of in , which is predominantly Christian ( ...

, and injuring 178 people, many of them teenagers and tourists. Thirteen Israelis were killed immediately and three others died later from their injuries. The Mahane Yehuda attack was followed by a triple suicide bombing on the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall in downtown Jerusalem on 4 September, which killed five Israelis and wounded over 190.

Aftermath

In retaliation for these and other attacks, a decision was reached to target Hamas leaders. According to an Israeli press release,

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

agents tried to poison chairman

Khaled Mashal Khaled Mashal (, ; born 28 May 1956) is a Palestinian politician who served as the second chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from 1996 until May 2017, when he was succeeded by Ismail Haniyeh. He has also covered duties as the acting lea ...

, who resided at the time in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. The assassination attempt failed and the Mossad agents were captured by the Jordanian authorities. They were later released in exchange for the release of

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin (; June 1936 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, an Islamist political and military organization. He also served as the first chairman of the Hamas Shura Council and ...

, the founder and "spiritual leader" of Hamas who was serving a life sentence in an Israeli prison.Hartley, Lea, Cossali and Rowe, 2004, p. 231.Schanzer, 2008, p. 45.

References

__NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahane Yehuda Market Bombings Suicide bombings in 1997 Mass murder in 1997 Hamas suicide bombings Marketplace attacks in Jerusalem July 1997 in Asia July 1997 crimes Islamic terrorist incidents in 1997 Terrorist incidents in Jerusalem in the 1990s 1997 building bombings Building bombings in Jerusalem 20th-century mass murder in Jerusalem

The attack

Aftermath

See also

References