Meron Junction Bus 361 Attack

The bomber was identified as Jihad Khaled Hamada, a 20-year-old resident of Burqin near Nablus who was of Jordanian extraction.[2] He had worked illegally in Israel as an electrician's helper and had previously been detained for illegal entry and expelled to Palestinian Authority-administered territory.[2]

The same account names Ibrahim Muhammad Ibrahim Bakri, an Israeli Arab from B'ana, and Yassin Bakri as accomplices. It states that Hamada contacted Ibrahim Bakri for help reentering Israel after his expulsion.[2] Hamas publicly claimed responsibility for the subsequent bombing.[1]

Bus 361 departed Haifa for Safed at 7:15 a.m. on August 4, 2002.[1] Before Hamada boarded, the attackers reportedly drove toward Carmiel seeking a bus carrying many Israeli soldiers. A visible security presence caused them to abandon that location and proceed to another bus stop. Hamada wore clothing typical of Israeli civilians before boarding Bus 361.[2]

Shortly before 9:00 a.m., as the bus reached the Mount Meron junction near Safed, Hamada detonated the explosive charge.[1] The blast blew off the roof, after which the bus caught fire. Nine people were killed, while reports of the number wounded range from 38 to approximately 52.[2][1]

The dead included three Israel Defense Forces soldiers: Sergeant Major Roni Ghanem, 28, of Mughar; Sergeant Yifat Gavrieli; and Sergeant Omri Goldin, 20, of Mitzpe Aviv.[2][1] Sources differ on Gavrieli's age and hometown: one lists her as 21 and from Tel Aviv, while another lists her as 19 and from Mitzpe Adi.[2][1]

The four civilian victims were Sari Goldstein, 21, of Karmiel; Maysoun Amin Hassan, 19, of Sajur; Marlene Miriam Menahem, 22, of Moshav Safsufa; and Mordechai Yehuda Friedman, 24, of Ramat Beit Shemesh. Adelina Kononen, 37, and Rebecca Roga, 40, both from the Philippines, were also killed.[1]

IDF troops later captured Hamas commander Mazan Fukha and two deputies in Tubas. The Israeli government identified Fukha as responsible for dispatching the suicide bomber.[1] Other sources render his name as Mazen Fuqaha or Mazzen Faqha and describe him as a senior member of Hamas's Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades from Tubas in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[3]

An Israeli court sentenced Fuqaha in 2003 to nine life terms plus an additional 50 years for his role in the bombing.[3] He was released in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and deported to the Gaza Strip. From Gaza, he continued planning terrorist attacks in Samaria.[3]

Fuqaha was shot and killed in Gaza in March 2017. Although his death was initially suspected of being an Israeli operation, later reporting attributed the killing to a fellow Hamas operative seeking revenge after being dismissed from the organization; Hamas subsequently executed the killer.[3]

Separately, commentary from the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, citing Israeli security information, implicated Hamas figure Jamal Abu al-Hija and his assistant Islam Jarrar in planning and carrying out the Meron Junction bombing and the Matsa restaurant bombing in Haifa.[4]

Approved accounts differ on the number of people wounded. The Jewish Virtual Library's narrative reports 38 injured.[1] An Israeli government map publication records 50 wounded,[5] while the detailed Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center account gives approximately 52.[2]

The accounts also describe different levels of the operation. The detailed account identifies Hamada and the Bakris as the execution cell.[2] The Jewish Virtual Library reports that the Israeli government identified Fuqaha as the commander responsible for dispatching the bomber.[1] The Jerusalem Center commentary additionally attributes a planning role to Abu al-Hija and Jarrar.[4] These roles are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but the sources do not explicitly reconcile their descriptions of the attack's organization.