Palestinian suicide attacks using bombs were carried out on two No. 18 buses on
Jaffa Road in
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 ...
, in 1996.
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 ...
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
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 ...
, and a
terrorist attack near Dizengoff Center in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
.
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
''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
'' 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
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 ...
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
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
.
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
The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...
. Warda was released in 2025 as part of the
2025 Gaza war ceasefire
A List of Arab–Israeli prisoner exchanges, hostages-and-prisoners exchange and armistice between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip took effect from 19 January to 18 March 2025, during the Gaza war. It includ ...
.
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
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
and won a $327 million judgment in 2000, including $300 million in punitive damages and $27 million in compensatory damages.
The
Clinton Administration
Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...
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
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
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
Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence or terrorism committed by Palestinians with the intent to accomplish political goals in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Common objectives of political violence by Pal ...
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