December 2005 HaSharon Mall Suicide Bombing

By December 2005, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) had become the leading perpetrator of suicide bombings in Israel during the period described as a relative lull in Israeli-Palestinian violence. An Israeli government review recorded that PIJ carried out five of the seven suicide bombings perpetrated in Israel during 2005.[1]

The HaSharon Mall, situated at the entrance to Netanya on the city's main street near the coastal highway, had already been targeted twice before December 2005. On May 18, 2001, a suicide bomber attempted to enter the mall but detonated in the security-check area after attracting a guard's suspicion, killing five people. On July 12, 2005, another bomber detonated at the nearby intersection of Herzl and Petah Tikva streets, killing five civilians and injuring approximately 100 people. The mall's location and accessibility, together with concern that security guards would prevent bombers from entering, made the area around its entrance a repeated target.[2]

On the day before the December attack, the Shin Bet chief briefed the cabinet on nine warnings of planned attacks inside Israel and approximately 40 intelligence reports concerning terrorist intentions. Despite the general alert, the security establishment said it had no specific warning of an impending attack in Netanya.[3]

At approximately 11:30 a.m. on Monday, December 5, 2005, the bomber approached the HaSharon Mall on Herzl Street, near a bridge and a National Insurance Institute branch, carrying the explosive device in a bag.[4] A female police officer and several passersby noticed his suspicious behavior and shouted warnings as he approached the entrance.[5]

Mall security guard Haim Amram, 26, confronted the bomber. Amram pulled him toward the sidewalk, increasing the distance between the bomber and the mall entrance. Two police officers arrived immediately before the bomber detonated the device, but neither Amram nor the officers could prevent the explosion. Amram was killed after redirecting the bomber away from the entrance.[5]

The explosion shattered windows along the mall's northern wall, broke and displaced marble tiles, sent glass in all directions, damaged nearby vehicles, and tore branches from trees along the adjacent sidewalk. Blood stains reportedly reached approximately five meters up the mall wall.[3] A witness described helping a woman trapped in a car at a nearby traffic light after its windows shattered and a piece of metal penetrated her leg; he drove her to a hospital.[4] Casualties were evacuated to Laniado Hospital in Netanya, Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, Hillel Yaffe Hospital in Hadera, and Beilinson Hospital.[4][6]

Five Israeli civilians were killed in the attack.[7] The victims were:

• Haim Amram, 26, of Netanya — a mall security guard who died while confronting the bomber.[7]
• Alexandra Garmitzky, 65, of Netanya — an immigrant from Ukraine who had arrived in Israel in 1997 and had worked as an accountant.[7][6]
• Daniel Golani, 45, of Nahariya — the owner of three clothing stores.[7][6]
• Elia Rosen, 38, of Bat Hefer — a mother of three and educational psychologist who was preparing to begin work as a project manager.[7][6]
• Keinan Tsuami, 20, of Petah Tikva — who had traveled to Netanya with a friend to eat at the mall.[7][6]

Contemporaneous reports placed the total number of wounded at more than 50.[5] A follow-up report on December 6 stated that 24 people remained hospitalized, including one in serious condition and four in moderate condition.[6]

The bomber was identified as Lutfi Amin Abd al-Latif Abu Sa'ada, 21, a resident of the village of 'Alar near Tulkarm and a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.[4] PIJ's military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for the bombing. Sources in the organization described it as a response to what they called continuing Israeli crimes despite the period of calm.[5]

The attack formed part of PIJ's broader effort to undermine the lull and position itself as the leading organization in the armed confrontation with Israel. The Israeli government's 2005 review described PIJ as spearheading efforts to derail the lull and recorded that it carried out five of the seven suicide bombings in Israel that year.[1]

Following the bombing, Israeli police increased readiness nationwide, established roadblocks, sealed the area around the mall, and searched for additional explosive devices.[4][3] Israel barred Palestinian entry into Israel for one week beginning December 6, made arrests in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and began airstrikes in Gaza.[8]

Palestinian Authority Security Forces arrested nearly 70 militants and activists after the bombing, most of them affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad.[9]

In July 2007, Israeli security forces arrested Adham Yunis, who had transported the suicide bomber to the Netanya mall. An Israeli government report placed Yunis within the Islamic Jihad infrastructure in Samaria and stated that he had also participated in numerous shooting and bombing attacks and efforts to rebuild the organization's operations in Tulkarm.[10]

Contemporaneous and retrospective sources consistently report that five Israeli civilians were killed and that Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.[7][5] Reports differ slightly on the wounded: Ynetnews reported approximately 58 injured, while Globes reported about 55; both described the total as more than 50.[5][3]

A later ynet report counted 24 people who remained hospitalized rather than the total number injured and gave an updated distribution of injury severity.[6] The casualty figure is therefore generally presented as more than 50 wounded, with more precise totals attributed to individual reports.

The December 2005 bombing was the third suicide attack at or near the HaSharon Mall since the beginning of the violent Israeli-Palestinian confrontation and the second attack associated with the mall during the 2005 lull.[1][2] Each of the three attacks killed five civilians, producing a combined toll of 15 deaths. In each case, the bomber detonated near the entrance rather than inside the building, a pattern attributed to concern that mall security guards would prevent entry.[7][2]

The repeated attacks highlighted the vulnerability of high-traffic civilian locations and the role of security personnel in preventing bombers from entering crowded buildings. In December 2005, Haim Amram was killed after confronting the bomber and moving him away from the entrance.[7][2]