The Kfar Darom bus attack was a 1995 suicide attack on an

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i bus carrying civilians and soldiers to Kfar Darom, an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

in the Gaza Strip. The attack killed seven Israeli soldiers and one American civilian. The Shaqaqi faction of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing. A United States

Federal district judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the United States Constitution, Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the Chief ...

ruled that the

Iranian Government The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (), known simply as ''Nezam'' (), is the ruling State (polity), state and current political system in Iran, in power since the Iranian Revolution and fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. Its Const ...

had provided financial aid to the group that carried out the attack and were therefore responsible for the murder of the U.S. citizen.James Dao
"Judgment for Terrorism Is $248 Million"
''The New York Times'' (12 March 1998). The court ordered the Government of Iran to pay the victim's family $247.5 million in damages.

The attack

On the morning of 9 April 1995, Khaled Mohammed Khatib, a construction worker from the

Nuseirat refugee camp Nuseirat Camp () is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the middle of the Gaza Strip, five kilometers north-east of Deir al-Balah. The refugee camp is in the Deir al-Balah Governorate, Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of ...

, waited on the main highway running from

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

to the settlements in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. At 11:45 am, he rammed Egged bus 36 carrying more than 60 Israeli soldiers and civilian passengers to the Jewish settlement of

Kfar Darom Kfar Darom () was a kibbutz and an Israeli settlement within the Gush Katif bloc in the Gaza Strip. History Kfar Darom was founded on 250 dunams of land (about 25 hectares or 60 acres) purchased in 1930 by Tuvia Miller for a fruit orchard on t ...

. At the moment he rammed the bus, he flipped a trigger switch in the steering column, detonating a bomb in his car.Katz, 184 Seven Israeli soldiers and one American civilian (named Alisa Flatow) were killed and 52 passengers were wounded. The family donated Alisa Flatow's organs. Flatowmemorial

Subsequent attack

Two hours later, Imad Abu Amouna used a suicide car-bomb against an Israeli police-escorted convoy of cars driving towards the Netzarim settlement. Imad Abu Amouna was a

Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...

militant who had grown tired of waiting for his "martyrdom operation" and instead volunteered with Hamas. Nobody was killed, but thirty soldiers were wounded. The bomb used by Amouna was designed by

Yahya Ayyash Yahya Abd-al-Latif Ayyash (, ; 6 March 1966 – 5 January 1996) was the chief bombmaker of Hamas and the leader of the West Bank battalion of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. In that capacity, he earned the nickname "the Engineer" (). Ayyash ...

Lawsuit

The family of the American citizen killed in the attack sued the government of Iran, and in 1998 a Federal district judge ordered the Iranian government to pay $247.5 million in damages to the family.James Dao
"Judgment for Terrorism Is $248 Million"
''The New York Times'' (12 March 1998).

References

External links

Rejuvenation: A Father's Fight

What Grief Can Do to You
{{Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1990s Suicide bombings in 1995 Palestinian suicide bomber attacks against buses Terrorist incidents in Palestine in the 1990s 1995 in Palestine Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine attacks Israeli military casualties Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1995 1995 murders in Asia Murder in the Gaza Strip 20th century in the Gaza Strip April 1995 in Asia April 1995 crimes Improvised explosive device bombings in Palestine 1995 road incidents Road incidents in Palestine

The attack

Subsequent attack

Lawsuit

See also

Further reading

References

External links