2002 French Hill Junction massacre
Encyclopedia
The French Hill Junction massacre was a suicide bombing which occurred on June 19, 2002 in a crowded bus stop
Bus stop
A bus stop is a designated place where buses stop for passengers to board or leave a bus. These are normally positioned on the highway and are distinct from off-highway facilities such as bus stations. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage...

 and hitchhiking post at the French Hill
French Hill
French Hill , also Giv'at Shapira is a neighborhood in northeastern Jerusalem. It is located on territory occupied during the Six-Day War in 1967, later annexed to Israel under the Jerusalem Law in 1980...

 neighborhood in northeastern Jerusalem. The site of the attack was chosen in order to cause maximum number of casualties. 7 people were killed in the attack, and 35 were injured.

The Palestinian militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is a coalition of Palestinian nationalist militias in the West Bank. The group's name refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem...

 claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack took place only a day after the deadliest bombing attack in Jerusalem in six years occurred in which a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 19 people on a crowded bus in southern Jerusalem.

The attack

On Wednesday, shortly after 7:00 pm, a Palestinian suicide bomber got out of a red Audi
Audi
Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....

 vehicle next to a bus station in Jerusalem's French Hill
French Hill
French Hill , also Giv'at Shapira is a neighborhood in northeastern Jerusalem. It is located on territory occupied during the Six-Day War in 1967, later annexed to Israel under the Jerusalem Law in 1980...

 neighborhood. Border Police patrolmen, whom were in charge of securing the site, began approaching the suspect but the suicide bomber managed to run past them straight towards the crowd of people waiting for the bus. The suicide bomber detonated the explosive device hidden on his body, killing seven people. About 50 additional people were injured in from the force of the blast and from by shrapnel that was packed around the explosive device. Eight of the wounded are in critical condition.

Shortly after the attack, the Palestinians militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is a coalition of Palestinian nationalist militias in the West Bank. The group's name refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem...

, who publicly identifies itself as the military wing of Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...

 (led by Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...

), claimed responsibility for the attack during a broadcast on the Lebanese television.

Fatalities

  • Gila Sara Kessler, 19, of Eli
  • Gal Eisenman, 5, of Ma'ale Adumim
  • Shmuel Yerushalmi, 17, of Shilo
    Shilo
    Shilo Inns is a mid-priced hotel chain operating 43 hotels predominantly on the west coast of the United States, with a large concentration of locations in the state of Oregon...

  • Michal Franklin, 22, of Jerusalem
  • Noa Alon, 60, of Ofra
    Ofra
    Ofra is an Israeli settlement located in the northern West Bank in the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. It is situated on the main road between Jerusalem and Nablus , 25 km from Jerusalem and has 3,200 inhabitants ....

  • Hadassah Jungreis, 20, of Migdal Haemek
  • Tatiana Igelski, 43, of Moldova
    Moldova
    Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...


  • External links

    • Bombings spark Mid-East turmoil - published on BBC News
      BBC News
      BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...

       on June 20, 2002
    • Bomb kills 8 in Jerusalem ; Attack is 2nd in 2 days; troops move in West Bank - published on Chicago Tribune
      Chicago Tribune
      The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

       on June 20, 2002
    • 26 innocents: seven more Israelis die in second blast in two days - published on the New York Post
      New York Post
      The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

      on June 20, 2002
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