| Dizengoff Street bus bombing | |
|---|---|
 | |
  The attack site  The attack site | |
| Location | Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Coordinates | 32°4′44″N34°46′26″E / 32.07889°N 34.77389°E /32.07889; 34.77389 |
| Date | October 19, 1994; 31 years ago (1994-10-19) c. 9:00 am (UTC+2) |
Attack type | Suicide attack |
| Deaths | 22 civilians (+1 suicide bomber) |
| Injured | 104 |
| Perpetrator | Hamas claimed responsibility |
| Assailant | Saleh Abdel Rahim al-Souwi |
| Participant | 1 |
TheDizengoff Street bus bombing was aHamas suicide attack on a passenger bus driving downDizengoff Street,Tel Aviv in 1994.[1] At that time, it was the deadliestsuicide bombing inIsraeli history,[2] and the first successful attack in Tel Aviv.[3] 22 civilians were killed and 50 were injured.[4] The attack was planned by Hamas chiefYahya Ayyash, a week before the signing of theIsrael-Jordan Treaty of Peace.
Yahya Ayyash was disappointed that the previous attack he orchestrated, theHadera central station suicide bombing, had killed only six Israelis. The bomb used in that attack had been small and made ofacetone peroxide, a relatively weak explosive. For the attack on bus five, Ayyash constructed a bomb using an Egyptianland mine packed with twenty kilograms of military-strengthTNT, surrounded by nails and screws. TNT is not readily available in the Palestinian territories, but Hamas had managed to acquire some by smuggling it in or purchasing it from Israeliorganized crime. The device "was one of the best ever built by Ayyash."[5]
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 IsraeliShabak, but was not considered a high priority.[6] The day before the attack, al-Souwi taped a statement saying "It is good to die as amartyr forAllah" and "Sages end up inparadise".[7]
Muatab Mukadi, a member of Ayyash's Samaria battalion (of theIzz 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 ofDizengoff 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 thefiberglass bus frame.Limbs were projected like missiles into the seating area of nearby restaurants.[8]
Following the explosion, a crowd of demonstrators descended on the bomb site chanting "Death to the Arabs". "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."[8]
Israeli police quickly identified al-Souwi as the perpetrator. The day after the bombing, with his identity confirmed using DNA, al-Souwi's family threw a neighborhood party celebrating his "martyrdom." That afternoon, theIsrael Security Agency (ISA) destroyed the house, after giving the family one hour to remove their possessions.[9]
