The Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing was a

suicide bombing 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 history ...

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 metropoli ...

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, 21 January 2004. Many of the victims were students from Haifa University. 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 Bri ...

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 and ...

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 history ...

from

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies Above mean sea level, above sea level. The second-lar ...

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 ( he, בת גלים, ''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 R ...

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 I ...

. 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
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', 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 Abdel Aziz Ali Abdul Majid al-Rantisi ( ar, عبد العزيز علي عبد المجيد الحفيظ الرنتيسي; 23 October 1947 – 17 April 2004), nicknamed the "Lion of Palestine" was the co-founder of Palestinian Sunni-Islamic org ...

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 ( ar, ابراهيم المقادمة) (1952 – 8 March 2003) was a 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 wi ...

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.http://www.shabas.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/09ED13AD-30EB-4F28-8FEA-7A9EDB0F9119/0/listeng1.xls

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

The attack

Aftermath

See also

References

External links