The Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing was a terrorist attack on a civilian bus in Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

 by a member of the militant organization 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...

.

The attack

The attack occurred on March 5, 2003, when a suicide bomber from Hebron

Hebron

Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...

 detonated a bomb hidden underneath his clothes on a bus carrying many children and teenagers on their way home from school. The bus exploded on Moriah Boulevard, near the neighborhood of Carmeliya in Haifa. Seventeen people were killed and 53 were wounded. Police said the bomb, strapped to the bomber's body, was laden with metal shrapnel in order to maximize the number of injuries.

Fatalities

Miriam Atar, 27, from Haifa Anatoly Biryakov, 20, from Haifa Smadar Firstatter, 17, from Haifa Daniel Harush, 16 , from Safed Safed Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters... Motti Hershko, 41, from Haifa Tom Hershko, 16, from Haifa Meital Katav, 20, from Haifa Elizabeth (Liz) Katzman, 17, from Haifa Tal Kehrmann, 17, from Haifa

Kmer Abu Khamed, 12, from Daliyat al Karmel St.-Stg. Eliyahu Laham, 22, from Haifa Avigail Lietel, 14, from Haifa Yuval Mendelevitch, 13, from Haifa Be'eri Ovad, 21 , from Rosh Pina Moran Shushan, 20, from Haifa Mark Takash, 54, from Haifa Asaf Tzur, 16, from Haifa

Aftermath

Spokesmen from Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the attack. "We will not stop our resistance," said Abd al-Aziz Rantisi of Hamas. "We are not going to give up in the face of the daily killing of Palestinians."

Release of attack planners

On 18 October 2011 Isreal released three people convicted of planning the attack, Maedh Waal Taleb Abu Sharakh (19 life sentences), Majdi Muhammad Ahmed Amr (19 life sentences) and Fadi Muhammad Ibrahim al-Jaaba (18 life sentences), as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange

Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange

The Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange followed an agreement between Israel and Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners – mainly Palestinians and Arab-Israelis, though among the prisoners released there was also a Ukrainian prisoner, a Jordanian prisoner, and a...

.

External links

• Haifa bus bomber kills 15, wounds dozens. Hamas terrorist carried letter praising 9/11 attacks in US; most casualties are students - published on Jerusalem Post on March 6, 2003
• Bus bomb Rocks Haifa - published on The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
  
   on March 5, 2003
• Deadly bus blast rocks Haifa - 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 March 6, 2003
• Explosion rips through bus, killing at least 15 in Israel ; American among victims; lull in suicide attacks ends - published on the Boston Globe on March 6, 2003
• Memorial site of Liz Katzman
• Memorial site of Tal Khermann