| |
Suicide Bombings: Tzrifin and Jerusalem - September 9, 2003
A total of 16 people were killed and over 80 wounded in two suicide bombings which took place within the space of six hours on Tuesday, September 9.
Both bombers were members of Hamas from the village of Rantis in the West Bank. Both studied together at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah.
Nine IDF soldiers were killed and 30 people were wounded in a suicide bombing at 5:40 p.m. at a hitchhiking post for soldiers outside a main entrance to the Tzrifin army base and Assaf Harofeh Hospital, near Rishon Lezion. The bomber wore civilian clothes and carried a leather bag containing a 3-4 kilogram bomb. He got out of a car at the bus stop, and almost immediately blew himself up. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
 The victims:
- Senior Warrant Officer Haim Alfasi, 39, of Haifa;
- Chief Warrant Officer Yaakov Ben-Shabbat, 39, of Pardes Hanna;
- Cpl. Mazi Grego, 19, of Holon;
- Capt. Yael Kfir, 21, of Ashkelon;
- Cpl. Felix Nikolaichuk, 20, of Bat Yam;
- Sgt. Efrat Schwartzman, 19, of Ganei Yehuda;
- Sgt. Yonatan Peleg, 21, of Moshav Yanuv
- Cpl. Prosper Twito, 20, of Upper Nazareth
- Sgt. Liron Siboni, 19, of Ramat Gan died of her wounds on November 19.
Seven people were killed and over 50 wounded when a suicide bomber exploded at 11:20 p.m. at Cafe Hillel on Emek Refaim St., the main thoroughfare of the German Colony neighborhood in Jerusalem. According to an eyewitness, the bomber tried to get into a Pizza Meter restaurant but was rebuffed by a security guard, so he went into the crowded Cafe Hillel next door. The guard at the entrance to the cafe tried to prevent the bomber from entering, but he had managed to get several meters inside. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
The victims:
- Dr. David Appelbaum, 51, who headed the emergency room at Shaare Zedek Hospital, and his daughter Nava, 20, who was to have been married the day after the bombing (Sept 10)
- David Shimon Avizadris, 51, of Mevaseret Zion
- Shafik Kerem, 27, of Beit Hanina
- Alon Mizrahi, 22, of Jerusalem, the security guard
- Gila Moshe, 40, of Jerusalem
- Yehiel (Emil) Tubol, 52, of Jerusalem.
| |