Posted on 09/10/2003 8:36:54 AM PDT by yonif
All eight victims of the Tzrifin suicide attack have been identified:
Sgt. Yonatan Peleg, 21, Moshav Yanov, Sharon area.
Yoni was in the army for a year and a half, serving as an instructor in the Tzrifin army base. Two weeks ago he was granted a promotion.
At the time of the attack, Yoni was on his way home, together with his girlfriend, also a soldier at Tzrifin base. She, too, was killed in the attack.
Yoni's father, Yosef, recalled with tears in his eyes: "When I heard of the attack, I called Yoni but He didn't answer. I left him a message, 'Yoni, call me back, we're worried.' He never did."
Yosef rushed to Asaf Harofeh Hospital, looking for Yoni.
"When I saw the look on the crews' faces, I understood he was dead," he said. "I want Yoni to be remembered as a good boy. Always smiling, loving life, looking out for everyone. His girlfriend and he were very much in love. Now, there'll always be together."
Yoni left behind parents, a brother and a sister. He was buried Wednesday at 14:30, in Moshav Yanov.
Corporal Mazi Grego, 19. from Holon.
Mazi Grego completed her studies at the ORT High School in Holon, majoring in computers. She had recently completed a computer course in the army and had been given an office and computer of her own to take advantage of her talents.
Just before the bombing, Mazi spoke to her mother Orly by phone and told her that the bus had been full and didn't stop. "If the bus had stopped she would still have been alive," her mother couldn't stop crying. "After the explosion I called Mazi, but her phone was engaged. At one point someone answered and told me he was the paramedic. 'Mazi's alive,' he said."
However, when the family hurried to the hospital, they were referred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir.
Nissim, Mazi's father, is furious. "We gave this country a flower, and she returned to us in a coffin. I don't understand Sharon. He's in India now, eating Papaya, while here terrorists are exploding. Couldn't they have killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin when he was still in jail?"
Mazi left behind parents, a sister, due to begin her army service, and brother, two months short of celebrating his Bar Mitzvah. She was buried Wednesday at 15:30, in Holon.
Chief Warrant Officer (SWO) Haim Alfasi, 40, from Haifa.
Chief Warrant Officer Haim Alfasi, who would have celebrated his 40th birthday next week, was an instructor in the Signal Corps at the Tzrifin army base. He was killed on his way home.
When Haim's wife, Orly, heard of the attack, she immediately called her husband. As the hours passed and no word was received from Haim, her fear grew.
"First and foremost, Haim was a family man," she told ynet. "A loving father, husband and son, always thinking of his family. Now, thanks to this horrible situation, all we have is memories and photographs."
"He was a great cook," recalls his sister-in-law, Keren. "He made the best Moroccan fish, and was always helping my sister. Now Orly doesn't say much. She mostly cries.
"Haim had a wonderful relationship with his sons, wonderful and warm. They're so alike him, so loving and attached to him. Little Oz fell asleep early [Tuesday night] and doesn't yet know he's lost a father. Ran is already grownup, he understands, he sits around and cries."
Chief Warrant Officer Haim Alfasi left behind a wife and three sons: Ran (12), Nir (9) and Oz (3). He was buried Wednesday at 16:00, in Haifa.
Corporal Prosper Twito, 20, from Upper Nazareth.
Corporal Prosper (Perry) Twito was informed on Tuesday that he was to join an officer's course, one which he had been waiting to join for a long time. "His commander told me he had a smile on his face all day long," his father, Ephraim, told ynet.
After the attack, said Ephraim, he expected the worst. "I had a gut feeling, and called the information center. They told me he was hurt and I drove to the hospital like a madman.
"I asked to see him, but he was undergoing surgery at the time and we couldn't go in." Ephraim and his wife, Denise, prayed for their son's life, but an hour later they were informed of his death.
Prosper left behind parents and three siblings. He was buried Wednesday at 16:30, in Upper Nazareth.
Sgt.-Maj. Yaakov Ben Shabbat, 39, from Pardes Hannah.
Sgt.-Maj. Yaakov Ben Shabbat left the Tzrifin army base, where he had been serving for the past seven years, especially early on Tuesday. It was his daughter's eighth birthday, and he wanted to stop off on his way home to buy her presents and a birthday cake. The cake, ordered specially, remained in the bakery.
"Yaakov was the dominant member of our family," his relatives said. "We used to ask his advice all the time. He loved his family and cared for it, and was especially attached to his three kids. He loved everyone, Jews and Arabs alike."
Yaakov left behind a wife and three children. He was buried Wednesday at 17:30, in Pardes Hannah.
Capt. Yael Kfir, 21, from Ashkelon.
Even though Yeal majored in theater," her father said, "she had a scientific mind. She completed her finals in math, for the maximum 5 points, with a grade of 100. She had been offered scholarships at several universities, but hadn't made up her mind what to study".
In addition to her IDF service as an instructor in the Signal Corps at the Tzrifin army base, Yael was studying math and history at the Open University. She dreamt of being an astronaut and reaching Mars, and two weeks ago had sent an e-mail to NASA, asking them to advise her if she should study astronomy or astrophysics. "She had enough dreams for dozens of people, said her father."
Yael left behind parents and a sister. She was buried Wednesday at 18:00, in Ashkelon.
Corporal Felix Nikolaichuk, 20, from Bat Yam.
Felix Nikolaichuk, who was to have celebrated his 20th birthday in three weeks, immigrated to Israel with his family from the Ukraine seven years ago. His father Sergei relates how, already then, his son dreamt of serving in the IDF: "He wanted to enlist and serve the country.
"Yesterday [Tuesday] evening I heard of the attack, but didn't know of anything. At nine p.m. the hospital called, and I was told he died immediately, wounded directly in the heart.
"We spoke for the last time Yesterday morning. Just an ordinary chat, nothing special. Now, I don't know what to say anymore. It's so hard" Felix left behind parents and a brother.
Sgt. Efrat Schwartzman, 19, from Gani Yehuda. Was buried Wednesday at 18:00, in Savion.
Ten of the wounded in the attack are still in hospital, five of which are in moderate condition.
About 5:55 p.m. a suicide bomber approached the large bus stop and soldier hitchhiking post on the north side of the Ramle-Jaffa highway. Just across the street from the large Tzrifin army base and the Assaf Harofe Hospital, the sidewalk was filled with soldiers returning home and people returning from the hospital.
The explosion ripped through the crowd killing seven people and wounding at least 15. Emergency personnel were on the scene within minutes since it was so close to the hospital and they had already been put on alert.
"We got here and there were bodies of soldiers in the middle of the hitchhiking post. It was an awful sight but it's part of our task. I ran from injured person to injured person doing triage. There had been a lot of warnings lately so we expected this," said Nadav Ovadia, a volunteer for Zaka.
Less than an hour after the bombing, the large bus stop was awash in spotlights as police and Zaka volunteers scoured the ground for body parts. Firemen erected a large ladder in order to remove the remains of a head or scalp of the bomber that was hanging from the roof of the bus stop.
A leg with an army boot remained on the ground next to another leg, possibly the bombers. Nearby lay a bloody black beret and the ground was covered in bits of flesh and bones, blood and glass. A Zaka volunteer used a spatula to gently scrape a bloody hunk of flesh from the guardrail into a plastic bag. Police wearing rubber gloves swept the ground with flashlights looking for clues.
Police snipers were placed on the bridge above the bus stop in case a second bomber might try a 'second wave' attack.
Police had been on alert number 3, the second highest alert since Saturday night following the failed attempt by the IDF to assassinate senior Hamas terrorists and leaders in Gaza, including Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Leaves were canceled and numerous roadblocks were set up. Shortly before the attack, there were serious warnings of a bomber on the loose in Jerusalem.
Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi said in Gaza City that the attack was "a reaction to the Zionists' crimes and assassinations." Hamas leader in Lebanon Osama Hamdan said that Hamas was behind the attack.
Internal Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said on the scene that there had been guards at the bus stop and arrived seconds too late and that some of them were among the injured. "Terrorism cannot be deterred. We have a hundred years of fighting terrorism. The only way to fight terror is to take the fight to the terrorists," said Hanegbi.
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon said after the bombing that Israel would continue to wage its unceasing war on terror and strike its "perpetrators, supporters and leaders."
Israel Police Spokesman Gil Kleiman held in his palm lugs and nuts, twisted and split by the explosion, which the suicide bomber had used to increase the lethality of his bomb.
"We know that there were attempts by various terrorist organizations to carry out attacks and we have been working around the clock to prevent them," said Kleiman. "The alert is still in effect."
Kleiman dismissed earlier reports that the suicide bomber had been a woman or disguised as a soldier.
"This was a large bus stop and hitchhiking point. A lot of buses stop here. There was an average Israeli crowd here," Kleiman said.
Even though the incident took place adjacent to the hospital, it happened at the height of rush hour traffic which hampered the evacuation somewhat. The road remained closed for most of the evening.
Health Minister Danny Naveh said Tuesday that intelligence reports were received showing that Palestinian terrorists were planning to attack hospitals. Naveh said the terrorists may be planning to use a hijacked ambulance to attack a hospital; or use a terrorist in the guise of a patient to gain entrance into a hospital.
David Saranga, deputy spokesman for the Foreign Minister, said that the bombing could not have been in retaliation for Saturday's F-16 bombing of Hamas leaders. "It has nothing to do with this. In order to carryout such kind of attack you need more time. You need someone to provide the explosives and entry to Israel and transportation," Saranga said.
"The Palestinian terror organizations have their own agenda and that is to kill as many Israelis as they can. It doesn't matter if they are soldiers or civilians, Saranga said. "It has nothing to do with the Israeli operation."
Channel 2 reported that the streets of Gaza City are mostly empty with residents fearing an Israeli response to the attack. Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) who was appointed by the PLO Executive Committee to be the new Palestinian prime minister strongly condemned Tuesday's terror attack in Tzrifin in an interview with The Jerusalem Post . " This is very bad ...very bad we condemn this strongly", he said. He said such attacks and Israeli counter attacks do not lead anywhere except to more violence, and will complicate his decision whether to take the job of prime minister. He said he would work for a real cease-fire not an internal hudna if he decides to accept the post .
The number for Assaf Harofe Hospital information: 12 55 188 The Fax number is: 08-9227092 Lamia Lahoud and The Jerusalem Post Internet Staff contributed to this report
If you can, post pictures of the victims. It is always useful to have a face for the name so that the fallen become more than just statistics.
I find it useful to email a photo to my pro-Arab acquaintances to show what it is they are condoning.
Good. Israel is finally striking fear in some of the population. This would be a good time to break off any socializing with Hamas members.
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