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The Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing was a Palestinian suicide bombing carried out on 5 March 2003 on an Egged bus in
Spokesmen from Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the attack. "We will not stop our resistance," said
Bus bomb Rocks Haifa
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Deadly bus blast rocks Haifa
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Explosion rips through bus, killing at least 15 in Israel; American among victims; lull in suicide attacks ends
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Memorial site of Liz Katzman
Memorial site of Tal Khermann
{{Hamas 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 in Asia Hamas suicide bombings of buses Haifa in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Suicide bombings in Israel
Haifa
Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, 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 metropolitan area i ...
, 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 ...
. 17 passengers were killed in the attack and 53 were injured. Many of the victims were university students from nearby Haifa University
The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an indepen ...
.
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 ...
claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomber was 20-year-old Mahmoud Umdan Salim Qawasmeh, a student at the Palestine Polytechnic University
Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU; ) is a university located in Hebron, West Bank, Palestine. The school was founded in 1978 by the University Graduates Union (UGU).
PPU has six colleges: Engineering and Technology, Medicine and Life Scien ...
. An Israeli Arab
The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...
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 asuicide bomber
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 ...
from Hebron
Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...
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
Bat Galim (, ''lit.'' Daughter of the Waves) is a neighborhood of Haifa, Israel, located at the foot of Mount Carmel on the Mediterranean coast. Bat Galim is known for its promenade and sandy beaches. The neighborhood spans from Rambam hospital i ...
neighborhood to the University of Haifa
The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...
. The explosion occurred while the bus was packed with commuters. The attack killed 17 people and wounded 53. 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
Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi (; 23 October 1947 – 17 April 2004) was a Palestinian political leader and co-founder of Hamas, along with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1987. He also served as the chairman of the Hamas Shura Council from March 2004 until h ...
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
Ibrahim al-Makadmeh () (1952 – 8 March 2003) was a Palestinian people, Palestinian and Hamas senior leader in the Gaza Strip who was killed by Israeli forces. Makadmeh, one of Hamas' founders and a leader of the group's military wing, was accu ...
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 1027 prisoners — almost all Palestinia ...
.
See also
*List of Hamas suicide attacks
This article contains a non-comprehensive list of Palestinian suicide attacks carried out by Palestinian individuals and militant groups, usually against Israeli civilian targets. The use of indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations is ill ...
References
External links
Bus bomb Rocks Haifa
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The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
on 5 March 2003Deadly bus blast rocks Haifa
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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 2003Explosion rips through bus, killing at least 15 in Israel; American among victims; lull in suicide attacks ends
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Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
on 6 March 2003Memorial site of Liz Katzman
Memorial site of Tal Khermann
{{Hamas 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 in Asia Hamas suicide bombings of buses Haifa in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Suicide bombings in Israel