Beit Lid suicide bombing

In 1994, Hani Abed, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative, brokered an alliance between Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. (Hani was later assassinated by Israel). As part of the alliance, Hamas's chief bombmaker, Yahya Ayyash, built the three bombs used by Islamic Jihad for the Beit Lid suicide attack. Each was made using plumber's pipe (one foot long and eight inches (203 mm) wide) and five kilograms of military-grade TNT, surrounded by nails.[5]

The Beit Lid junction is a well-known waypoint towards Netanya. Strategically, it is an important crossroads between Tel Aviv and Haifa located on Highway 4. "On Sunday mornings, Beit Lid was swamped with thousands of young soldiers and aging reservists heading back to military duty from weekend leaves".[5] Ashmoret Prison is located in the southwest corner of the Beit Lid junction. At the time of the bombing, Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, was being held there.[5]

Scene after the bombing.

On 22 January 1995, at approximately 9:30 am, a Palestinian suicide bomber, disguised as an Israeli soldier, approached the bus stop at the Beit Lid junction in central Israel. The bus stop was full of Israeli soldiers who were on their way to their bases after their weekend vacation. The suicide bomber walked into the crowd and detonated the hidden explosives belt he was wearing. About fifteen minutes later a second suicide bomber exploded at the same spot, killing and injuring people wounded in the first explosion, as well as bystanders who had rushed to the scene to assist the victims of the first explosion.

Fatalities

A monument commemorating the victims of the bombings.

Soldiers

• Lt. David Ben-Zino, 20, of Ashdod[6]
• Lt. Eyal Levy, 20, of Ashdod – seriously wounded, later died of his wounds[7]
• Lt. Adi Rosen, 20, of moshav Bitzaron[8]
• Lt. Yuval Tuvya, 22, of Jerusalem[9]
• Sgt.-Maj. Anan Kadur, 24, of Daliyat al-Karmel[10]
• Staff-Sgt. Damian Rosovski, 20, of Kadima[11]
• Staff-Sgt. Yehiel Sharvit, 21, of Haifa[12]
• Staff-Sgt. Yaron Blum, 20, of Jerusalem[13]
• Sgt. Maya Kopstein, 19, of Jerusalem[14]
• Sgt. Daniel Tzikuashvili, 19, of Jerusalem[15]
• Sgt. Avi Salto, 19, of Rishon Lezion[16]
• Sgt. Rafael Mizrahi, 19, of Ramat Gan[17]
• Sgt. Eran Gueta, 20, of Ashkelon[18]
• Cpl. Soli Mizrahi, 18, of Ramat Gan[19]
• Cpl. David Hasson, 18, of Ashkelon[20]
• Cpl. Amir Hirschenson, 18, of Jerusalem[21]
• Cpl. Gilad Gal-On, 18, of Herzliya[22]
• Cpl. Ilie Dagan, 18, of Kochav Yair[23]
• Cpl. Eitan Peretz, 18, of Nahariya[24]
• Cpl. Yaniv Weiser, 18, of Givatayim – seriously wounded, later died of his wounds[25]

Civilians

• Shabtai Mahpud, 34, of moshav Tnuvot.[26]

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin toured the bombing site the next day, walking within yards of a kit bag containing a third bomb. Shaaker had left it there for a third suicide bomber, Shahdi Abed al-Rahim, who never made it to the junction. al-Rahim was to have used the bomb to kill Rabin and the Shabak agents accompanying him. The bomb was later recovered, and provided investigators with more evidence implicating Ayyash.[27]

• List of massacres in Israel
• List of terrorist incidents, 1995

• Katz, Samuel. The Hunt for the Engineer. Lyons Press, 2002. ISBN 1-58574-749-1

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beit Lid massacre.

• Suicide bomb kills 19 at Israel road junction - published on Boston Herald on January 23, 1995
• Two-Stage Bombing Kills 19 At Israeli Military Bus Stop - published on The Washington Post on January 23, 1995
• Blast kills 19 in Israel - published on Sun Journal on January 23, 1995
• Double Bombing Kills 19 Israelis, Wounds 60 - published on Times Daily on January 23, 1995
• Time Magazine interview with Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shkaki four days after the bombing