2007 Eilat Bombing

By January 2007, Israel had experienced a meaningful decline in suicide attacks compared with the peak years of the Second Intifada. The Israeli government recorded 55 implemented suicide bombings in 2002 and four in 2006.[3] A separate annual review attributed the broader reduction primarily to the combined operations of the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Defense Forces, and the Israel Police, which disrupted terrorist planners and operators.[4]

Despite this overall trend, a November 2006 ceasefire agreement—under which Palestinian factions had agreed to halt suicide bombings and tunnel digging—did not eliminate the threat.[5] Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip had opened new operational space for terrorist organizations. Former Southern Command chief Yoav Galant argued that Egypt's Sinai Desert provided terrorist networks with freedom of action and that, after the Gaza withdrawal, those organizations gained access to the roughly 200-kilometer border between Sinai and Israel.[6] Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees made substantial efforts to exploit that corridor to infiltrate suicide bombers into Israel's Negev region.[6]

On January 29, 2007, at approximately 9:40 a.m., a suicide bomber entered the Lehamim bakery in the Isidore neighborhood of Eilat and detonated an explosive device.[1] The device was carried in a bag and contained remnants of a 100-millimeter artillery shell.[7][3] Three civilians were killed; several others suffered shock but sustained no physical injuries.[1]

The bomber was identified as Muhammad Faisal al-Siksik, a 21-year-old from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip and an operative of Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Jerusalem Battalions, the organization's military wing.[7][3] He traveled from Gaza through the Sinai Peninsula and crossed into Israel via the Israeli-Egyptian border to reach Eilat.[3] The Israeli government report stated that Eilat was selected partly because of the ease of crossing the long, unprotected Israel-Egypt border and the freedom of action available to terrorist networks operating out of Gaza.[3] The bomber's body was found at the scene following the detonation.[3]

The three people killed were Emi Haim Elmaliah, age 32; Michael Ben Sa'adon, age 27; and Israel Zamalloa, age 26.[8][3] The Israeli government report rendered the first and third names as Emil Almaliah and Israel Samolia, reflecting differences in transliteration between sources.[3]

Elmaliah, also known as Ami, was a lifelong Eilat resident, a married father of two, and a veteran of the IDF's Golani and Alpine units. He had opened the Lehamim bakery eight months before the attack and hoped to expand it into a chain.[9][10] Ben-Sa'adon had moved to Eilat from Acre and became a partner in the bakery three months after it opened. He was newly married and the father of an eight-month-old son; on the morning of the attack, he returned home to take his son to day care and then went back to the bakery.[9][10] Zamalloa had immigrated from Peru, remained in Israel after his family relocated to the United States, and recently began working at the bakery. His parents and sister lived in Miami, and his family requested that his body be flown there for burial.[9][10]

Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades faction calling itself "The Army of the Faithful" jointly claimed responsibility for the bombing.[3] The U.S. State Department's 2007 Country Reports on Terrorism recorded three claims of responsibility: Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and an unknown group calling itself "The Army of the Faithful."[11]

The Israeli government report identified the bomber as an operative of Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Jerusalem Battalions.[3] The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center separately identified Issam Batash, an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades operative, as the individual responsible for dispatching the bomber to Eilat. Batash's operational role was described as infiltrating operatives from Gaza into Sinai and onward toward the Eilat region.[12] In the wake of the attack, Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesmen declared that suicide bombing attacks would continue and called on other terrorist organizations to "aim their weapons at Israel."[12]

The White House condemned the attack on the day it occurred, expressing condolences to the victims, their families, and the people of Israel. The statement condemned Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas, that it said had condoned the bombing, and placed the burden of preventing terrorist attacks on the Palestinian Authority government.[13]

A Hamas spokesman praised the bombing.[5] A senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader described the attack as "a natural response to the continued crimes by the Zionist enemy."[5] Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to Israel Radio, condemned the suicide bombing and said he opposed "all attacks that harm civilians."[5]

The Eilat bombing was the only suicide attack carried out inside Israel during 2007, and the three civilians it killed accounted for the majority of the five Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians in terrorist attacks in Israel that year. The other two were killed in Sderot by Qassam rocket fire.[8][3] The U.S. State Department reported that Israeli civilians were killed in six separate terrorist attacks during 2007, the lowest number since the outbreak of the First Intifada. It also recorded Israeli security officials' assessment that security services had kept terrorist planners and operators off balance.[11]

The Israeli government's annual terrorism report placed the attack within a dramatic statistical decline: from 55 implemented suicide bombings in 2002 to one in 2007, and from 220 Israelis killed in suicide bombings in 2002 to three in 2007.[3] The attack nevertheless demonstrated that an operative from Gaza could travel through Sinai and enter Israel near Eilat. The report stated that the city was chosen partly because the long, unprotected Israel-Egypt border was relatively easy to cross.[3]

Sources differ chiefly in how they describe organizational responsibility. The State Department's human-rights report attributes the bombing to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, while its terrorism report records claims by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and the Army of the Faithful.[11][8] The Israeli government report describes the Army of the Faithful as a Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades faction and states that it jointly claimed responsibility with Palestinian Islamic Jihad.[3]

These accounts distinguish between the bomber's organizational affiliation, operational assistance, and public claims of responsibility. Sources also render the victims' names differently in English, including Emi or Emil Elmaliah and Israel Zamalloa or Samolia, although they agree that three civilians were killed.[8][3]