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{{Infobox civilian attack
|title=2008 Dimona bombing
|image=
|caption=
|map=<div style="width:250px; float:none; clear:none;"><div style="position:relative; padding:0; width:250px;">[[File:Israel_outline_north_negev.png|250px]]
<br /><div style="position: absolute; z-index: 2; top: 70.5%; left: 73.1%; height: 0; width: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"><div style="position: relative; text-align: center; left: -4px; top: -4px; width: 8px; font-size: 8px; z-index:100;">[[File:Red pog.svg|7px]]</div><div style="font-size:90%; line-height: 110%; z-index:90; position: relative; top: -1.5em; width: 6em; left: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="padding: 1px;">'''The attack site'''</span></div></div></div></div>
|location=[[Dimona]], [[Israel]]
|target=
| coordinates = {{coord|31|03|52.23|N|35|02|03.57|E|display=inline}}
|date=February 4, 2008
|time-begin=
|time-end=
|timezone=
|type=[[suicide attack]]
|fatalities=1 Israeli civilian (+ 2 bombers)
|injuries=9 Israeli civilians
|perps=Two Palestinian assailants, working in a [[Hamas]] cell under Izzedine al Qassam Brigades commander [[Ahmed Jabari]].<ref name="Atran"/>
}}
[[File:Dimona01.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Dimona]]
The '''2008 Dimona bombing''' was a [[suicide attack]] carried out in [[Dimona]], [[Israel]] on February 4, 2008 by [[Hamas]].<ref name="Where?">{{cite web|last=Toronto|first=Nathan W.|url=https://www.ict.org.il/Article.aspx?ID=1031|title=Where Have All the Bombers Gone?|work=[[Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya]]|date=2008-04-20|access-date=2016-09-23}}</ref> It is believed that Hamas leaders in the [[Gaza Strip]] ordered the operation without the knowledge of the Hamas politburo in [[Damascus]].<ref name="Atran" />

== The attack ==
On February 4, 2008, a Palestinian militant detonated an [[explosives belt]] at a [[shopping centre]] in [[Dimona]], [[Israel]].

The Israeli police managed to shoot dead an accomplice who was wounded in the first blast before he could detonate his own belt.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |title=Hamas says it was behind suicide blast in Israel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/06/israelandthepalestinians.international|work=The Guardian |date=2008-02-06 |access-date=2009-10-29 | location=London | first=Rory | last=McCarthy}}</ref>

One Israeli woman was killed in the attack while nine other people were injured (one of them critically).<ref name=bbc/> It was the first 'successful' suicide attack against Israeli civilians since the [[Eilat bakery bombing]] on January 29, 2007.

== The perpetrators ==
The [[al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]] and the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] initially claimed responsibility, but the two Gazans they named as the attackers did not match the bodies found at the scene. [[Hamas]] claimed responsibility on February 5, naming the perpetrators as Muhammed Herbawi (محمد الحرباوي) and Shadi Zghayer (شادي الزغيّر), both from the Palestinian city of [[Hebron]] in the [[West Bank]], the place which they are believed to have traveled from.<ref name="Where?"/><ref name="guardian">[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/06/israelandthepalestinians.international], Hamas says it was behind suicide blast in Israel</ref><ref name="aljazeera">[http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/8ef6ade2-0ddc-4c1a-ae6c-a0010e4cfe4e], Funeral of Dimona suicide bombing perpetrators</ref> Israeli intelligence believes the attack was ordered by Izzedine al Qassam Brigades commander [[Ahmed Jabari]] with the support of Gaza-based Hamas leader [[Mahmoud al-Zahar]]; Jabari contacted an ally in [[Qawasameh tribe|Hebron's Qawasameh clan]]—Ayoub Qawasmeh—who recruited the eventual perpetrators from a local Hamas soccer team. [[Scott Atran]] states that the Hamas politburo in [[Damascus]] was not informed of the attack.<ref name="Atran" >[[Scott Atran]], 'Who Becomes a terrorist Today?,' in C. Webel, John A. Arnaldi (eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=kVJdAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT58 ''The Ethics and Efficacy of the Global War on Terrorism: Fighting Terror with Terror,''] Springer, 2011 p.51.</ref> Israel demolished Herbawi and Zghayer's homes, while "the Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades website went down for three days, presumably the result of an electronic attack after its bogus claim."<ref name="Where?"/>

==Israeli retaliation==
On July 26, 2008, [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] and Israeli police forces killed Shihab Natsheh (25), a Hamas member from Hebron. Natsheh, according to the IDF, was the explosives engineer who prepared the demolition charge used to carry out the Dimona suicide bombing.<ref name="mastermind ynet">{{cite news|title=IDF kills terror mastermind in Hebron |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3573486,00.html |publisher=[[ynet]] |date=2008-07-27 |access-date=7 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807034821/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2C7340%2CL-3573486%2C00.html |archive-date=7 August 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="mastermind Haaretz">{{cite news|title=Israeli troops in Hebron kill Hamas man behind Dimona attack |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1005817.html |publisher=[[Haaretz]] |date=2008-07-28 |access-date=7 August 2008  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807171901/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1005817.html |archive-date=7 August 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Government reactions ==
;Involved parties
* {{flagu|Israel}}: [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] [[Ehud Olmert]] told a meeting of his [[Kadima]] party that Israel was fighting a "relentless war... against anyone who tries to harm Israeli citizens".<ref name=bbc/>
* {{flagicon image|Flag of Hamas.svg}} [[Hamas]] spokesman [[Ayman Taha]] praised the bombing as a "glorious act" and said that it was a "natural reaction to months of killing" of Palestinians by the Israeli military.<ref name=bbc/><ref name="ap">{{cite news |first=Laurie |last=Copans |title=First suicide attack in a year in Israel |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians;_ylt=At5TVs2Z7tR9wcmB1SSIl6as0NUE |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080207080639/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians;_ylt=At5TVs2Z7tR9wcmB1SSIl6as0NUE |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-02-07 |agency=Associated Press |date=2008-02-04 |access-date=2008-02-04}}</ref>

;International
* {{Flagu|United Kingdom}}: [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs]] [[David Miliband]] condemned the attack in a press release and said: "Today’s attack, the first in Israel for a year, aimed to undermine the peace process. Terrorist atrocities must not deflect us from our shared goal of just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians based on a [[two state solution]]".<ref>{{cite press release |title=David Miliband condemns suicide attack in Israel |publisher=[[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] |date=2008-02-04 |url=http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029391638&a=KArticle&aid=1199209016526 |access-date=2008-02-05}}</ref>
* {{Flagu|United States}}: [[United States Department of State|Department of State]] spokesman [[Sean McCormack]] condemned the attack during a press briefing and said: "All of these incidents point to the fact that we need to do everything that we possibly can, along with our partners in the international system, to help the Israelis and the Palestinians come to a political agreement and accommodation on the issues that separate them. At that point, the Palestinian people will be able to decide which pathway they want to go down; do they want to go down the pathway of having a [[Palestinian state]] or do they want to continue down a pathway represented by Hamas and other rejectionist groups that's a pathway of violence and that does not lead to a state".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2008/feb/100004.htm |title=Daily Press Briefing |access-date=2008-02-04 |date=2008-02-04 |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Terrorist attacks against Israelis in the 2000s}}
{{Palestinian militancy attacks in the 2000s}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimona Suicide Bombing}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=February 2008 events in Asia, Hamas suicide bombings, 2000s murders in Israel, 2008 crimes in Israel, 2008 murders in Asia, Shopping mall bombings, Building bombings in Israel, February 2008 crimes, Islamic terrorism in Israel
|description=
}}

[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Israel in 2008|Dimona bombing]]
[[Category:Dimona|2008 Dimona suicide bombing]]
[[Category:February 2008 events in Asia]]
[[Category:Hamas suicide bombings]]
[[Category:2000s murders in Israel]]
[[Category:2008 crimes in Israel]]
[[Category:2008 murders in Asia]]
[[Category:Shopping mall bombings]]
[[Category:Building bombings in Israel]]
[[Category:February 2008 crimes]]
[[Category:Islamic terrorism in Israel]]

2008 Dimona suicide bombing - Revision history

MetaBOT at 17:00, 8 July 2023