Dizengoff Center suicide bombing

Dizengoff Center suicide bombing
Location	Tel Aviv
Date	March 4, 1996 approximately 4:00 pm (GMT+2)
Target	Dizengoff Center
Attack type	Suicide bomber
Deaths	13 Israelis (12 civilians, 1 soldier) + 1 bomber
Injured	130
Perpetrators	Hamas

The Dizengoff Center suicide bombing (also Purim massacre) was a Palestinian terrorist attack on March 4, 1996 on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Purim. The suicide bomber blew himself up outside Dizengoff Center in downtown Tel Aviv, killing 13 Israelis and wounding 130 more. The attack was the fourth suicide bombing in Israel in nine days, bringing the death toll during that span to over 60.

The attack

File:PikiWiki Israel 8437 memorial to the victims of dizengof center terror.jpg

Memorial to victims of the Dizengoff Center suicide bombing

The suicide bomber detonated just before 4 pm (GMT+2) outside the Dizengoff Center, the largest shopping mall in Tel Aviv. That day the center was particularly crowded for the eve of Purim. Many in the crowd were children dressed in costume for the holiday. The bomber sought to enter the mall but turned back because of the police presence. Instead, he went into the busy intersection where a large number of pedestrians were crossing the street and set off his 20-kilogram nail bomb. Following the attack, a phone call to an Israeli radio station apparently from a Hamas representative identified the attacker as Abdel-Rahim Ishaq, a 24-year-old resident of Ramallah.

Fatalities

The suicide bomber killed 13 Israelis (12 civilians and one soldier): Additionally, a pregnant woman was injured in the blast and lost her unborn child.

Kobi Zaharon, 13, of Tel Aviv Yovav Levy, 13, of Tel Aviv Dana Guterman, 14, of Moshav Mishmeret Bat-Hen Shahak, 15, of Tel Mond Hadas Dror, 15, of Tel Mond Inbar Atiya, 22, of Ramat Ef'al St.-Sgt. Assaf Wachs, 21, of Holon

Tali Gordon, 24, of Givatayim Gail Belkin, 48, of Herzliya Dan Tversky, 58, of Tel Aviv Leah Mizrahi, 60, of Tel Aviv Sylvia Bernstein, 73, of Hod Hasharon Rahel Sela, 82, of Tel Aviv

External links

• The Bat-Chen Diaries
• Patches, a memorial film
• The Dizengoff Memorial Quilt Project at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 2009)