Erez Crossing bombing (January 14, 2004)
Encyclopedia
Erez Crossing
The Erez Crossing is a pedestrian/cargo terminal on the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier. It is located in the northern end of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Israel.It is part of a complex formerly including the Erez Industrial Park....
located on the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier
Israeli Gaza Strip barrier
The Israel and Egypt − Gaza Strip barrier is a separation barrier first constructed by Israel in 1994 between the Gaza Strip and Israel. An addition to the barrier was finished in 2005 to separate the Gaza Strip and Egypt....
. Four Israelis were killed in the attack. 10 people, including four Palestinians, were injured in the attack.
Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
The attack
On Wedensday, 14 January 2004, around 9:30 am, a female Palestinian suicide bomber, approached the pedestrian/cargo terminal Erez CrossingErez Crossing
The Erez Crossing is a pedestrian/cargo terminal on the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier. It is located in the northern end of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Israel.It is part of a complex formerly including the Erez Industrial Park....
(the main crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip where Israeli security forces tend to perform routine security checks to the Palestinian workers before they are allowed to enter Israel).
The suicide bomber was faking a limp
Limp
A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma however in the absence of trauma other serious causes such as septic arthritis,...
and she told the security guards at the site that she had a metal plate in her leg which would most likely trigger the alarm. As a result, a female soldier was sent to check her. As the suicide bomber was waiting for the arrival of the female soldier, she managed to infiltrate into the inspection hall, and detonated the hidden explosive device which was concealed on her body.
Three soldiers and one civilian employee of the Erez crossing were killed in the attack. 10 people, including four Palestinians, were injured in the attack.
Fatalities
- Staff Sargent Tzur Or, 20, of Rishon Lezion
- Corporal Andrei Kegeles, 19, of NahariyaNahariyaNahariya is the northernmost coastal city in Israel, with an estimated population of 51,200.-History:Nahariya was founded by German Jewish immigrants from the Fifth Aliyah in the 1930s...
- Gal Shapira, 29, of AshkelonAshkelonAshkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...
- Staff Sargent Vladimir Trostinsky, 22, of RehovotRehovotRehovot is a city in the Center District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 112,700. Rehovot's official website estimates the population at 114,000.Rehovot was built on the site of Doron,...
The perpetrators
HamasHamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack. Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
spokesman stated that the suicide bomber was a 22-year-old Palestinian mother of two named Reem al-Reyashi
Reem Riyashi
Reem Riyashi was a Palestinian mother of two from Gaza City who killed herself and four Israelis at the Erez crossing on January 14, 2004 in a suicide bombing attack...
whom originated from Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
.
In addition, after the attack a video of the suicide bomber, which was filmed before the attack, was published in which al-Reyashi was wearing combat fatigues and holding an automatic rifle with a rocket-propelled grenade in the foreground. In the video al-Riyashi said that since age 13 she had dreamed of turning "my body into deadly shrapnel against the Zionists
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
".
She continued: "I always wanted to be the first woman to carry out a martyrdom operation, where parts of my body can fly all over ... God has given me two children. I love them [with] a kind of love that only God knows, but my love to meet God is stronger still."
Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
Ahmed Yassin
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a founder of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization and political party. Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization...
stated in an interview with the Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
news agency that "The fact that a woman took part for the first time in a Hamas operation marks a significant evolution".
See also
- Reem RiyashiReem RiyashiReem Riyashi was a Palestinian mother of two from Gaza City who killed herself and four Israelis at the Erez crossing on January 14, 2004 in a suicide bombing attack...
- Female suicide bomberFemale suicide bomberThough the majority of suicide bombers have been male, female suicide bombers have carried out a number of attacks.-History:Female suicide bombers have been employed in several conflicts, by a variety of organizations, against both military and civilian targets.*In Lebanon on April 9, 1985, Sana'a...
- Wafa al BassWafa al BassWafa al Bass is a Palestinian Arab resident of Gaza who was permitted to enter Israel for the purpose of being treated at an Israeli hospital in 2005. She wore a suicide bomb vest which she attempted to explode as she crossed into Israel via the Erez Crossing.Al Bass had been given permission to...
2005 Erez crossing suicide bomber
External links
- Female suicide bomber kills at least 4 Israelis - published on CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
on January 14, 2004 - Gaza attack kills four Israelis - published on BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC 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 January 14, 2004 - Female suicide bomber kills four - published on The AgeThe AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
on January 15, 2004 - 'I always wanted to be first woman martyr' - published on Independent Online on January 15, 2004
- Woman bomber kills four in Israel - published on The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
on January 14, 2004