Non-fatal injuries 10 Attack type Suicide attack | Date 14 January 2004 | |
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Deaths 4 soldiers and security personnel (+ 1 bomber) Similar Gaza Street bus bombing, Ben Yehuda Street bo, Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing, Maxim restaurant suicide b, 2002 Los Angeles Internatio | ||
The Erez Crossing bombing was a suicide bombing which occurred on January 14, 2004 at the pedestrian/cargo terminal Erez Crossing located on the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier. Four Israelis were killed in the attack. 10 people, including four Palestinians, were injured in the attack.
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Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
The attack
On Wednesday, 14 January 2004, around 9:30 am, a female Palestinian suicide bomber, approached the pedestrian/cargo terminal Erez Crossing (the main crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip where Israeli security forces tend to perform routine security checks to the Palestinian workers before they are allowed to enter Israel).
The suicide bomber was faking a limp and she told the security guards at the site that she had a metal plate in her leg which would most likely trigger the alarm. As a result, a female soldier was sent to check her. As the suicide bomber was waiting for the arrival of the female soldier, she managed to infiltrate into the inspection hall, and detonated the hidden explosive device which was concealed on her body.
Three soldiers and one civilian employee of the Erez crossing were killed in the attack. 10 people, including four Palestinians, were injured in the attack.
Fatalities
The perpetrators
Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack. Hamas spokesman stated that the suicide bomber was a 22-year-old Palestinian mother of two named Reem al-Reyashi who originated from Gaza.
In addition, after the attack a video of the suicide bomber, which was filmed before the attack, was published in which al-Reyashi was wearing combat fatigues and holding an automatic rifle with a rocket-propelled grenade in the foreground. In the video al-Riyashi said that since age 13 she had dreamed of turning "my body into deadly shrapnel against the Zionists".
She continued: "I always wanted to be the first woman to carry out a martyrdom operation, where parts of my body can fly all over ... God has given me two children. I love them [with] a kind of love that only God knows, but my love to meet God is stronger still."
Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin stated in an interview with the Reuters news agency that "The fact that a woman took part for the first time in a Hamas operation marks a significant evolution".