The Matza restaurant suicide bombing occurred on March 31, 2002, when a Palestinian

Palestinian people

The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

 Hamas

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

 suicide bomber detonated his bomb inside the Matza restaurant in Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, near the Grand Canyon shopping mall, killing 16 Israeli civilians and injuring over 40 people.

The attack

The attack occurred at 14:45 during the Passover

Passover

Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...

 vacation in Israel, and the restaurant was crowded with families having their lunch. Despite the Passover suicide bombing which occurred just four days earlier in Netanya

Netanya

Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...

, and the tense atmosphere following it, the clients and restaurant owners were not particularly worried about security: The Matza restaurant is operated by an Israeli Arab family, and its multi-ethnic nature was thought to make it an unlikely choice for a terrorist attack.

Fatalities

Of the 16 victims, 14 were local Haifa residents, and one a waiter from a nearby town. Two families were completely wiped out, and other families suffered death and grave injuries to multiple family members.

Ron family: Aviel Ron, 54, of Haifa Anat Ron, 21, of Haifa Ofer Ron, 18, of Haifa Koren family: Shimon Koren, 55, of Haifa Ran Koren, 18, of Haifa Gal Koren, 15, of Haifa Shiran family: Adi Shiran, 17, of Haifa Shimon Shiran, 57, of Haifa – died of his injuries on April 11, 2009 after remaining hospitalized for seven years.

Additional victims Suheil Adawi, 32, of Turan Dov Chernobroda, 67, of Haifa Moshe Levin, 52, of Haifa Danielle Menchel, 22, of Haifa Orly Ofir, 16, of Haifa Ya'akov Shani, 53, of Haifa Daniel Carlos Wegman, 50, of Haifa Carlos Yerushalmi, 52, of Karkur – died of his injuries on April 1, 2002

The perpetrators

The military wing of Hamas

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

 claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that the bombings would continue as long as the siege of then President of the Palestinian National Authority

Palestinian National Authority

The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...

, Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat

Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...

 in Ramallah

Ramallah

Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...

. In addition, Hamas spokesman stated that the suicide bomber was a 22-year-old Palestian named Shadi Tubasi whom originated from the Jenin

Jenin

Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...

 area.

See also

• List of massacres committed during the Al-Aqsa Intifada
• Palestinian political violence
  Palestinian political violence
  Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence undertaken to further the Palestinian cause. These political objectives include self-determination in and sovereignty over Palestine, the liberation of Palestine and establishment of a Palestinian state, either in place of both Israel and...
  
  
• Israeli casualties of war

External links

• Israel hit by double suicide attack - published on BBC News
  BBC News
  BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
  
   on March 31, 2002
• Palestinian bomber rips open restaurant in city that prides itself on coexistence - published on the Associated Press
  Associated Press
  The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
  
  on March 31, 2002