Jaffa Road Bus Bombings

Palestinian suicide attacks using bombs were carried out on two No. 18 buses on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, in 1996. Hamas suicide bombers killed 45 people in the attacks, which were masterminded by Mohammed Deif, using explosives prepared by Adnan Awul. These two bombings, within a few days of each other, occurred during a Hamas offensive launched after the killing of Yahya Ayyash, which also included the French Hill neighborhood attack, a suicide bombing in Ashkelon, and a terrorist attack near Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv.

First bombing

On the morning of February 25, 1996, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a No.18 bus traveling down Jaffa Road near the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. 17 civilians and 9 Israeli soldiers were killed and 48, mostly civilians, injured.

In 2014 journalist Mike Kelly published ''The Bus on Jaffa Road; A Story of Middle East Terrorism and the Search for Justice''. ''Kirkus Reviews'' praised it as, "a spiral of horror and reckoning".

Sarah Duker, 23, who was studying science at Hebrew University, and her boyfriend, Matthew Eisenfeld, 25, a seminary student from West Hartford, Conn., were killed in the attack. The two were described as sympathetic to the peace process and committed to Mideast peace. Ms. Duker was the second New Jersey woman to lose her life in a terrorist attack in less than a year. Alisa Flatow, 20, of West Orange was killed in April by a suicide bomber in the Gaza Strip Kfar Darom bus attack. Both Ms. Flatow and Ms. Duker attended the same high school in Paramus.

According to Kelly, Yassir Arafat was aware of these planned bombings.

Attack planner

Hamas operative Hassan Salameh was captured by Israel in Hebron in May 1996. Israel, which has only twice imposed a death penalty, sentenced Salameh to 46 consecutive life sentences for directing 3 mass-casualty attacks. Salameh,has continued to maintain that he acted in a righteous manner in bombing civilian buses, saying, "I believe what I did is a legitimate right my religion and all of the world gave me..." in 1997, and in an interview almost 2 decades later. According to Mike Kelly, Salameh was trained in Iran.

Second bombing

On the morning of March 3, 1996, a suicide bomber boarded another No. 18 bus, detonating an explosive belt that killed 16 civilians and three Israeli soldiers and wounded 7.

Aftermath

Israel arrested Hamas militant Mohammed Abu Warda in 2002 for helping to organize the series of suicide bombings that killed more than 40 people and wounded more than 100 others. He was sentenced to 48 life sentences, one of the longest sentences ever imposed. According to Palestinian authorities, at the time of his arrest Warda had been recruiting suicide bombers, including students at Ramallah Teachers College, who conducted attacks targeting civilian crowds during the Second Intifada. Warda was released in 2025 as part of the 2025 Gaza war ceasefire.

After learning that the mastermind of the February 25 bombing was a Hamas militant trained and recruited by Iran, the Eisenfeld and Duker families sued Iran and won a $327 million judgment in 2000, including $300 million in punitive damages and $27 million in compensatory damages. The Clinton Administration then blocked the families' efforts to seize certain Iranian assets in the United States. As of 2006 collection efforts continue through legal processes. The families, together with the family of another United States citizen killed in the same attack, now seek as much as US$900 million from Iran. In 2006 an Italian court domesticated the US court ruling, and temporarily froze Iranian assets. The plaintiffs have stated that they intend to pursue Iran through other European Union courts.

In 2020, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-NJ, introduced a House of Representatives resolution to condemn payments to Hassan Salameh, a high-ranking Hamas leader who orchestrated the plot that killed Duker.

Gallery

Jaffa Road bus 18 bombings memorial plaque (25.2.1996).jpg, Commemorative plaque for the victims of the first bus bombing
Bus bombing memorial.jpg, Commemorative plaque for those who were killed in the second bombing

See also

* List of Palestinian suicide attacks
* Palestinian suicide attacks
*Palestinian political violence

References

External links

Fatal Terrorist Attacks in Israel Since the DOP (Sept 1993)
*She Did it Because She Believe
Lilith magazine, December 5, 1996
*Remembering Matt and Sar
(February 22, 2021)
*Remembering Matt and Sara 20 years late

{{Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Suicide bombings in 1996
Islamic terrorist incidents in 1996
February 1996 in Asia
February 1996 crimes
March 1996 in Asia
March 1996 crimes
Hamas suicide bombings of buses
Mass murder in 1996
People convicted on terrorism charges
Terrorist incidents in Jerusalem in the 1990s
20th-century mass murder in Jerusalem
Suicide bombings in Jerusalem
1996 road incidents
Bus bombings in Israel
Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1996
Palestinian suicide bomber attacks against buses