Hamas Revenge Bombings Kill 26 in Jerusalem Buses
Two suicide attacks within minutes and another days later fulfill Hamas vow to avenge 'The Engineer,' devastating Israeli cities.
Hamas suicide bombers struck two Jerusalem buses this morning in coordinated attacks that killed 26 Israelis and wounded over 80, fulfilling the group’s vow to avenge the assassination of bomb maker Yahya Ayyash. A third bombing in Ashkelon earlier today killed two more people.
The first explosion at 6:43 AM destroyed the Number 18 bus on Jaffa Road in central Jerusalem, killing 20 passengers. Twenty minutes later, another bomber struck the same bus line at a nearby stop, killing six more people. The Ashkelon attack targeted soldiers at a hitchhiking post.
Hamas claimed the attacks were the first of five planned operations to avenge “The Engineer.” The group released videos of the bombers declaring their intention to “make Israeli mothers weep as Palestinian mothers have wept.”
The coordinated strikes have thrown Israel into shock and threaten to swing upcoming elections to hardliner Benjamin Netanyahu, who immediately blamed the government’s peace policies. Prime Minister Shimon Peres suspended talks with the Palestinians and sealed off the West Bank and Gaza.
“This is a war to the bitter end,” Peres declared, ordering intensified operations against Hamas. Yasser Arafat condemned the attacks but faces Israeli demands for a comprehensive crackdown on Hamas infrastructure in Palestinian areas.
The bombings, among the deadliest in Israeli history, demonstrate Hamas’s ability to exact devastating revenge despite Israeli security measures. With elections just three months away, the attacks may have fatally undermined public support for the Oslo peace process.