| Hamas school bus attack | |
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The attack site
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| Date | 7 April 2011 |
| Attack type | Laser guided missile attack |
| Weapon(s) | Kornet anti-tank missile |
| Deaths | 1 child |
| Injured | 1 |
| Perpetrator(s) | Al-Qassam Brigades |
| Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel |
|---|
| By year |
| 2001 · 2002–2006 · 2007 2008 · 2008 cease-fire Gaza War · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 2012 |
| Groups responsible |
| Fatah · Hamas · Islamic Jihad Popular Resistance Committees Ansar al-Sunna · Force 17 Army of Islam · Tawhid wal-Jihad Abdullah Azzam Brigades |
| Rocket types |
| Mortar · Qassam · Al-Quds Katyusha · Grad |
| Cities hit |
| Ashdod · Ashkelon · Beersheba Gedera · Kiryat Gat · Kiryat Malakhi Netivot · Sderot · Ofakim · Yavne |
| Regional Council areas hit |
| Settlements hit (evacuated) |
| Atzmona · Dugit · Elei Sinai Gadid · Ganei Tal · Katif Kfar Darom · Morag Netzarim · Netzer Hazani Neve Dekalim · Nisanit Rafiah Yam · Slav |
| Actions by Israel |
| Civil defense in Israel Red Color · Iron Dome · ZAKA |
| Related topics |
| Israeli-Palestinian conflict Palestinian political violence Palestinian suicide attacks Palestinian animal bomb attacks Lebanese rocket attacks on Israel |
The Hamas school bus attack was a 7 April 2011 incident in which Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a Kornet laser-guided anti-tank missile over the border at an Israeli school bus. Hamas militants claimed responsibility.[1] The group had largely held its fire since the last major Israeli offensive in Gaza,[2] but said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of some of its leaders the previous week.[3][4]
Hamas said the bus was traveling a road often used by Israeli military vehicles and it was not known at the time of the attack that it carried schoolchildren.[5] Israel said the bus' yellow color made it easily identifiable to whoever had fired the missile and accused the group of "crossing a line."[5]
The missile hit the bus after all but one of the children had been dropped off at the kibbutz where they lived, and the bus had traveled just 50 metres beyond its that last stop there.[6] The only remaining passenger, a 16-year-old boy named Daniel Viflic, was critically injured with shrapnel wounds to the head and died from his injuries on 17 April. The driver was lightly injured.[7][8][9][10]
Fears that the attack would lead to a second Gaza War did not materialize[1], but the incident was followed by a several-day stretch of violence in which Palestinians launched over 100 projectiles at Israel in which no Israelis were killed, and at least 20 Israeli strikes from its army, navy, and air force that left 19 dead and at least 45 wounded in Gaza by the time hostilities had ceased.[3][11][12][13]
Reports varied widely as to how many of the Gazans killed were civilians versus militants: Haaretz said just two were civilians, AFP reported while the violence was still ongoing that seven civilians were killed, and the BBC just said that "many" were. The dead in Gaza included a mother and her 21-year-old daughter, a policeman, and a 10-year-old boy. [3][11][12][13] News agency Agence France-Presse reported that the interval following the bus attack included "the deadliest 24 hours of violence in the Strip since the end of the Gaza war" two years previously.[13]
The attack on the school bus was condemned by the United Nations, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, and multiple calls were issued for cessation of the mutual hostilities that followed.
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Hamas had largely held its fire since the last major Israeli offensive in Gaza,[2] in December, 2008,[3] but stated that three of its leaders had been killed by Israel the previous weekend,[4] 2–3 April 2011, and that the attack was a retaliation for those killings. In the 48 hours prior to the attack, Palestinians had also fired a separate anti-tank missile at an Israeli target. Anti-tank missiles, unlike rockets and mortars, are extremely accurate, and their use requires more skill.[6]
On 7 April 2011 a school bus belonging to the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, painted with a bright yellow color scheme to be easily recognizable as a vehicle transporting school children, was dropping off students near their homes in their villages.
The missile hit the rear of the bus after all but one of the children had been dropped off at the kibbutz of Sa'ad, and the bus had travelled just 50 metres beyond its last stop there.[6] The sole remaining passenger, Daniel Viflic, a 16-year-old yeshiva student from Beit Shemesh, was critically injured by shrapnel which penetrated his brain. Viflic also suffered shrapnel wounds to head, neck and body, and massive blood loss. He temporarily stopped breathing, which prevented oxygen from reaching his brain. Viflic had been on the bus riding along with driver Zion Yemini,[14] who was a family friend. The driver was lightly injured in the leg, and was able to pull the bus over to the side of the road, where he carried Viflic out of the vehicle.[7][8][9][10][6][8][9][10][15]
Paramedics arrived quickly and began resucitating Viflic. Hamas militants launched a mortar barrage timed to coincide with the arrival of paramedics, and medics attending to Viflic had to work under heavy mortar fire. Mortar fire delayed Viflic's evacuation. Viflic was airlifted in critical condition to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where he was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit. Shortly afterward, his brain stopped functioning. Following an initial brain scan, doctors concluded that Viflic had sustained a permanent brain injury. Doctors tried every treatment for cases of severe head trauma such as medication, special respiratory therapy, and attempts to lower his body temperature. Viflic remained in a coma on life support, showing no evidence of any brain activity.[16] His condition was upgraded to extremely critical on 12 April. Viflic died on 17 April, ten days after the attack, as a result of a severe brain injury.[17][7][6][7][18]
The military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility.[1] The group had largely held its fire since the last major Israeli offensive in Gaza,[2] but said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of some of its leaders the previous week.[3][4]
Because the Russian-made Kornet is an accurate, laser-guided weapon, it appeared that the bus was intentionally targeted.[1] Hamas said the bus was travelling a road often used by Israeli military vehicles and it was not known at the time of the attack that it carried schoolchildren.[5] Israel said the bus' yellow color made it easily identifiable to whoever had fired the rocket, and accused the group of "crossing a line."[5]
The attackers were never apprehended.
Fearing harsh Israeli retaliation, Palestinian militant organizations in the Gaza Strip declared a cease-fire as of 11 pm, which was ignored by Israel.[19] The Israeli Air Force immediately bombed two smuggling tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip, injuring four people. Rocket and mortar fire from Gaza began a few hours later,[6] and at least 45 additional Palestinian projectiles were fired into Israel over a three-hour period. No one was killed, but residents were instructed to stay inside their homes, children were ordered to stay inside schools, and police sealed roads in the area for fear of additional attacks.[7][20] One mortar shell damaged a home in the Eshkol Regional Council, but caused no injuries.[7] A Grad rocket fired at Ashkelon was intercepted by an Iron Dome battery, marking the first successful interception of a short-range rocket in history.[7] Immediately afterward, an Israeli aircraft fired at the militant squad that had launched the rocket, and confirmed a hit.
The Israeli Air Force and Israeli Navy launched missile attacks on targets in Gaza, while the Israeli Army attacked Gazan targets with artillery and tank fire.[11] News agency Agence France-Presse reported that the effect of Israel's actions included "the deadliest 24 hours of violence" in Gaza since the Gaza War had ended, two years previously.[13] Israeli forces had conducted more than 20 strikes by the following day. Palestinian militants fired 6 rockets and 24 mortar shells at Israel. An Iron Dome battery intercepted three rockets fired at Ashkelon; a fourth landed in an open field near the city. An Israeli aircraft fired at the Hamas cell that had launched the rockets and scored a direct hit. Israeli aircraft bombed two Palestinian militant cells east of Khan Yunis as they fired mortars at Israel.[11] Palestinian casualties stood at 14 dead and 45 wounded. At least five were Hamas militants, and one was a policeman.[3] Among the civilians reported killed in Gaza were a mother and her 21-year-old daughter. The Israeli military admitted that civilians had been apparently harmed in its attacks, saying that "Hamas chooses to operate from within civilian populations and uses them as human shields".[3][11] .[13] Palestinian rocket fire had seriously damaged chicken coops and a factory, and damaged a residential structure in a kibbutz in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council.
Concerns that this escalation might develop into a Second Gaza War did not materialize.[1]
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