->Eliko007 at 00:14, 4 November 2020

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{{Infobox terrorist attack
|title=Dizengoff Street bus bombing
|image=פיגוע באוטובוס קו 5 בתל-אביב.jpg
|caption=
|map={{location map|Tel Aviv#Israel center ta
|lat_deg=32|lat_min=04|lat_sec=45|lat_dir=N
|lon_deg=34|lon_min=46|lon_sec=26|lon_dir=E
|border=infobox|label={{bg|white|{{nowrap|'''The attack site'''}}}}
|caption =
}}
|location=[[Dizengoff Street]], [[Tel Aviv]], [[Israel]]
|coordinates = {{coord|32|4|44.31|N|34|46|26.26|E|display=inline}}
|target=
|date=October 19, 1994<br>9:00 am ([[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]+2)
|time-begin=
|time-end=
|timezone=
|type=[[Suicide attack]]
|fatalities=22 civilians (+ 1 suicide bomber)
|injuries=50
|perps=One suicide bomber (Saleh Abdel Rahim al-Souwi). [[Hamas]] claimed responsibility.
}}
The '''Dizengoff Street bus bombing''' was a [[List of Hamas suicide attacks|Hamas suicide attack]] on a passenger bus driving down Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv in 1994.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/20/world/attack-in-israel-the-scene-on-the-no-5-bus-line-a-thud-then-silence.html |first=Clyde |last=Haberman |title=On the No. 5 Bus Line, A Thud, Then Silence |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 20, 1994 }}</ref> At that time, it was the deadliest [[suicide bombing]] in [[History of the State of Israel|Israeli history]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/20/world/attack-israel-overview-20-killed-terrorist-bombing-bus-tel-aviv-48-are-hurt.html |first=Clyde |last=Haberman |title=20 Killed In Terrorist Bombing Of Bus In Tel Aviv |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 20, 1994 }}</ref> and the first successful attack in [[Tel Aviv]].<ref>Katz, 153</ref> Twenty-two civilians were killed and 50 were injured.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/rabin/timeline/mideast_timeline/index.html Death toll]</ref> The attack was planned by Hamas chief [[Yahya Ayyash]], on the eve of the signing of the [[Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace]].

==Background==
Yahya Ayyash was disappointed that the previous attack he orchestrated, the [[Hadera central station suicide bombing]], had killed six Israelis. The bomb used in that attack had been small and made of [[acetone peroxide]], a relatively weak explosive. For the attack on bus five, Ayyash constructed a bomb using an Egyptian [[land mine]] packed with twenty kilograms of military-strength [[Trinitrotoluene|TNT]], surrounded by nails and screws.<ref>Katz, 147</ref> TNT is not readily available in the Palestinian territories, but Hamas had managed to acquire some by smuggling it in or purchasing it from Israeli [[organized crime]]. The device "was one of the best ever built by Ayyash."<ref>Katz, 150</ref>

[[Qalqilya]] resident Saleh Abdel Rahim al-Souwi was selected for the attack. Al-Souwi joined Hamas after his older brother Hasin was killed in 1989, in a shootout with Israeli forces. Al-Souwi was wanted by the Israeli [[Shin Bet|Shabak]], but was not considered a high priority.<ref>Katz 147-148</ref> The day before the attack, al-Souwi taped a statement saying "It is good to die as a [[martyr]] for [[Allah]]" and "Sages end up in [[paradise]]".<ref>Katz, 149</ref>

==Attack==
Muatab Mukadi, a member of Ayyash's Samaria battalion (of the [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]]), drove al-Souwi to one of the bus's first stops. al-Souwi chose an aisle seat on the left side of the bus, and placed the bomb (stored in a brown bag) at his feet.

At approximately 9:00 AM, as the bus was slowing down for a stop 100 metres north of [[Dizengoff Square]], al-Souwi detonated the bomb killing 21 Israelis and one Dutch national. The powerful explosion lifted the bus off its chassis and the heat melted the [[fiberglass]] bus frame.
Limbs were projected like missiles into the seating area of nearby restaurants.<ref name="Katz151">Katz, 151</ref>

Following the explosion, a crowd of demonstrators descended on the bomb site chanting "Death to the Arabs".<ref name="Katz151"/> "Police arrested scores of Arab suspects in and around the blast area, though most of them were detained to save them from the crowd's anger."<ref name="Katz151"/>

===Fatalities===
{{div col|colwidth=35em}}
*Haviv Tishbi, 54, [[Tel Aviv]]
*Moshe Gardinger, 83, [[Tel Aviv]]
*Pnina Rapaport, 74, [[Tel Aviv]]
*Galit Rosen, 23, [[Holon]]
*Zippora Ariel, 64, [[Tel Aviv]]
*David Lida, 74, [[Tel Aviv]]
*Puah Yedgar, 56, [[Givatayim]]
*Dalia Ashkenazi, 62, [[Tel Aviv]]
*Esther Sharon, 21, [[Lod]]
*Ofra Ben-Naim, 33, [[Lod]]
*Tamar Carlebach-Sapir, 24, [[Moshav]] [[Zafaria]]
*Shira Meroz-Kot, 20, [[Kibbutz]] [[Beit Hashita]]
*Miriam Adaf, 54, [[Sderot]]
*Anat Rosen, 21, [[Ra'anana]]
*Salah Ovadia, 52, [[Holon]]
*Eliahu Wasserman, 66, [[Bat Yam]]
*Alexandra Sapirstein, 55, [[Holon]]
*Pierre Atlas, 56, [[Kiryat Ono]]
*Ella Volkov, 21, [[Safed]]
*Ayelet Langer-Alkobi, 26, [[Kibbutz]] [[Yiron]]
*Kochava Biton, 59, [[Tel Aviv]]
*Reinier Verbiest, 25, Netherlands.<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/victims.html Terrorism victims]</ref>
{{div col end}}

==Aftermath==
[[File:Bus no 5 bombing.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Memorial to victims of the attack]]
At the time of the attack, it was the deadliest in Israeli history. However, subsequent bombings have been even more devastating, among them the [[Jaffa Road bus bombings]], the [[Passover suicide bombing]], and the [[Shmuel Hanavi bus bombing]].

[[Yitzhak Rabin]], then Israel's Prime Minister, who was in the [[United Kingdom]] on a state visit, immediately returned to Israel. Ayyash's name and pictures of the demolished bus were featured in newspapers around the world.

Israeli police quickly identified al-Souwi as the perpetrator. The day after the bombing, with his identify confirmed using DNA, al-Souwi's family threw a neighborhood party celebrating his "martyrdom." That afternoon, the [[Shin Bet|Israel Security Agency (ISA)]] destroyed the house, after giving the family one hour to remove their possessions.<ref>Katz, 160</ref>

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

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Katz, Samuel |title=The Hunt for the Engineer |publisher=Lyons Press |date=2002 |isbn=1-58574-749-1}}

{{Terrorist attacks against Israelis in the 1990s}}
{{Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1990s}}

[[Category:Explosions in 1994]]
[[Category:1994 in Israel]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1994]]
[[Category:Hamas suicide bombings of buses]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Tel Aviv]]
[[Category:Islamic terrorist incidents in 1994]]
[[Category:Islamic terrorism in Israel]]
[[Category:1994 crimes in Israel]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Israel in 1994]]
[[Category:1990s murders in Israel]]
[[Category:1990s in Tel Aviv]]

Dizengoff Street bus bombing - Revision history

->Eliko007 at 00:14, 4 November 2020