Haifa Bus 37 Suicide Bombing

The bombing occurred during the Second Intifada. My Jewish Learning described early spring 2003 as a period of relative remission in the uprising, with Israelis having experienced two months without a suicide bombing before the Haifa attack.[5]

At the time of an initial report, no terrorist organization had claimed responsibility. The report said the Israeli government assigned responsibility to the Palestinian Authority, arguing that it was not stopping attacks.[6] A later State Department chronology said Hamas claimed responsibility, while Ynet identified the attacker as a Hamas suicide bomber.[3][7]

On March 5, 2003, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device aboard Egged bus 37 on Moriah Boulevard in Haifa’s Carmel area. The bus was traveling toward the University of Haifa. A contemporary report placed the explosion at about 14:15, near the junction with the Carmelia neighborhood; the National Insurance Institute memorial entry for Yuval Mendelevitch gives the time as 14:12.[6][8]

Route 37 ran from Haifa’s Bat Galim central bus station through Hadar and central Carmel to Ahuza. Egged said the bus had left at 13:30 and was usually crowded. At least 50 people were aboard, and the bus likely had stopped at a bus stop when the bomb exploded.[6]

The explosion set the bus on fire. Fifty-four ambulances attended the scene, some arriving within minutes, and firefighters quickly controlled the fire. The initial report gave a preliminary toll of at least 15 dead and more than 30 wounded, including ten seriously injured, and said the driver was among the wounded.[6]

The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center report gives a toll of 17 killed and approximately 42 wounded.[9] It lists the victims as Kamar Abu Hamed, 13, from Daliat al-Karmel; Daniel Haroush, 16, from Zefat; Mordechai Hershko, 41; Tom Hersko, 15; Mark Takash, 53; Meital Katav, 20; Avigail Leitel, 14; Yuval Mendelevitch, 13; Maryam Atar, 26; Smadar Firstater, 16; Asaf Zur Solinger, 17; Elizabeth Katzman, 17; Tal Kerman, 17; Moran Shushan, 19; Anatoly Biryakov, 20; Staff Sergeant Eliahu Laham, 22; and Staff Sergeant Be’eri Oved, 21, from Rosh Pina. Those without another hometown specified were listed as residents of Haifa.[9]

Nine of the dead were under 18, and Ynet reported that nine were school students returning home after classes.[1][10] The Jewish Virtual Library listing records 15 people killed in the initial attack, with Anatoly Biryakov dying of his injuries on March 8 and Moran Shushan on March 11.[2] The National Insurance Institute memorial entry states that 13-year-old Yuval Mendelevitch had stayed after school to help his art teacher and was killed on his way home.[8]

Sources give different casualty figures. The State Department chronology reported 15 killed, including one U.S. citizen, and 40 wounded; the Congressional Research Service reported 16 killed, including one American, and about 55 wounded.[3][4] My Jewish Learning reported 15 killed and 30 wounded, while the Jewish Virtual Library listing gives 17 killed and 53 wounded.[5][2]

The ITIC report notes that totals in its broader study can differ from figures published by the National Insurance Institution or Foreign Ministry. It attributes such differences to critically wounded people dying later and to some victims, including soldiers, not appearing in National Insurance lists.[9]

The bomber is identified as Muhammad ‘Umran Salim Qawasmeh, a 20-year-old Hebron resident who studied computers at Palestine Polytechnic University. The report says Hamas’s operational headquarters in Hebron orchestrated the attack.[9] The Times of Israel and Ynet use the variant names Mahmoud Kawasme and Mahmoud Kwasme, respectively; the cited sources do not explain the relationship between these forms.[11][7]

The report names ‘Ali Rajbi as responsible for logistics, ‘Ali ‘Alan as the person who prepared the explosive belt, and Hafiz Rajbi as the person who brought the bomber to the site. It says Hafiz Rajbi was a Hebron resident with an East Jerusalem identity card that enabled him to enter Israel.[9] Ynet separately reported that the bomber’s brother drove him to the bus stop and was killed two days later during an attempt to arrest him.[10]

The Times of Israel reported that Mounir Rajbi was convicted in a January 2004 plea deal of aiding and abetting the enemy during wartime and attempting to cover up a crime. The original indictment reportedly said he had hosted the bomber and suggested an attack location.[11] Ynet later described Mounir Ragabi as having been convicted of membership in a terrorist organization and failing to prevent a crime, for which he received a 20-year sentence.[10] A separate Ynet report said Mouaz Abu-Sharkh and Majdi Amru received 17 life sentences for sending Kwasme to carry out the bombing.[12]

The Times of Israel reported that three people imprisoned for planning and abetting the attack were freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.[11] In 2023, Ynet reported that Mounir Ragabi was to be barred from Haifa and its surroundings after serving his sentence, following a campaign by bereaved families. It also reported that his permanent residency status had been revoked in 2019.[10]

The attack left families searching hospitals and official lists for missing relatives. In a later interview, bereaved father Yossi Tzur recalled calling family members, running between hospitals and eventually going to Abu Kabir; his son Asaf was among those killed.[13]

Memorialization also became a public activity. Yossi Tzur worked to document memorial sites for victims of terrorist attacks and said remembrance could strengthen social ties and a sense of mutual responsibility.[14] The National Insurance Institute records that, days after the bombing, Arab and Jewish teenagers met at a peace center where Yuval Mendelevitch had volunteered. The gathering was dedicated to Yuval and fellow student Avigail Leitel.[8]

In its account of events surrounding the bombing, the Congressional Research Service noted that Israeli forces subsequently raided a Gaza refugee camp, killing 11, and reoccupied an area of northern Gaza. The report presents these as subsequent events but does not explicitly state that they were a direct response to the Haifa attack.[4]

Accounts differ on the final casualty total, the number wounded and some victim details. Early reports gave preliminary counts, while later lists included people who died after the explosion.[6][2] The ITIC and Jewish Virtual Library lists also differ on some ages and spellings, including those of Kamar Abu Hamed, Tom Hersko or Hershko, Elizabeth Katzman and Moran Shushan.[2][9]

The contemporaneous Globes report said no organization had claimed responsibility when it was published.[6] The later State Department chronology said Hamas claimed responsibility, while the ITIC report directly attributes the attack to Hamas.[3][9]

The ITIC report supplies names and operational roles for several people allegedly involved in organizing the attack, but those specific assignments are not independently corroborated by another source in the bundle.[9] The differing forms of the bomber’s name also remain unresolved. These discrepancies are presented without treating any single account as resolving every difference.