Kfar Darom bus attack

Kfar Darom bus attack

The attack site
Location Vicinity of Kfar Darom, Gaza Strip
Date April 9, 1995
11:45 am (GMT+2)
Attack type Suicide attack
Deaths Seven Israeli soldiers and one civilian (+ 2 suicide bombers)
Injured 50 civilians
(another 20 injured in both attacks)
Perpetrator(s) Two Palestinian suicide bombers (Khaled Mohammed Khatib and Imad Abu Amouna). Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility.

The Kfar Darom bus attack was a 1995 Islamic Jihad suicide attack on an Israeli bus, carrying both military and civilian passengers, traveling to Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip.[1]

Contents

The attack

On the morning of April 9, 1995, Khaled Mohammed Khatib, a construction worker from the Nuseirat refugee camp, waited on the main highway running from Ashkelon to the settlements in the Gaza Strip. At 11:45 AM, he rammed Egged bus 36 carrying more than 60 Israeli soldiers and civilian passengers to the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom.[1] At the moment he rammed the bus, he flipped a trigger switch in the steering column, detonating a bomb in his car.[2] Seven Israeli soldiers and one American civilian killed and twenty wounded.

Fatalities

The following people died in the attack:[3]

Alisa Flatow (1975–1995), the American Jewish student from West Orange, New Jersey killed in the attack, attended Brandeis University.[12] When Flatow succumbed to her wounds, her family donated her organs to save the lives of others.[13]

Flatow's family sued the government of Iran, and in 1998 a Federal district judge ordered the Government of Iran to pay $247.5 million in damages to Flatow's family.[14] The Alisa M. Flatow Yeshiva High School was named in her honor.[15] The Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship provides funds for students who wish to pursue traditional Jewish studies.[16]

Subsequent attack

Later that day, Imad Abu Amouna used a suicide car-bomb against an Israeli convoy up the road near Netzarim. Imad Abu Amouna was an Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant who had grown tired of waiting for his "martyrdom operation" and instead volunteered with Hamas. Nobody was killed, but thirty soldiers were wounded. The bomb used by Amouna was designed by Yahya Ayyash.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Fletcher, Elaine Ruth (1995-04-10). "Terror deals a blow to Mideast peace. U.S. student dies after attack on bus.". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1995/04/10/NEWS16316.dtl. Retrieved 15 December 2010. 
  2. ^ a b Katz, 184
  3. ^ "Fatal Terrorist Attacks in Israel Since the Declaration of Principles". MFA. 24 Sep 2000. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+before+2000/Fatal+Terrorist+Attacks+in+Israel+Since+the+DOP+-S.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-22. 
  4. ^ Staff-Sgt. Yuval Regev (Hebrew)
  5. ^ Staff-Sgt. Meir Scheinwald (Hebrew)
  6. ^ Sgt. Itai Diener (Hebrew)
  7. ^ Sgt. Zvi Narbat (Hebrew)
  8. ^ Sgt. Netta Sufrin (Hebrew)
  9. ^ Cpl. Tal Nir (Hebrew)
  10. ^ Sgt. Avraham Arditi (Hebrew)
  11. ^ Alisa Flatow (Hebrew)
  12. ^ Siemaszko, Corky. "EERIE LINKS BETWEEN 2 N.J. WOMEN", New York Daily News, February 26, 1996. Accessed August 19, 2008. "The New Jersey women killed yesterday in a bus bombing in Jerusalem followed in the tragic footsteps of a former classmate Alisa Flatow. Sara Duker was one year ahead of Flatow at the Frisch Yeshiva High School in Paramus, N.J."
  13. ^ Robert Hanley. "Father Says U.S. Victim Loved Israel", The New York Times, April 11, 1995).
  14. ^ James Dao. "Judgment for Terrorism Is $248 Million", The New York Times (March 12, 1998).
  15. ^ Lois Goldrich. "Bat Torah headed for Paramus", New Jersey Jewish Standard (May 2, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-08-07.
  16. ^ Alisa Flatow Memorial Fund home page. Retrieved on 2008-08-07.

External links