Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2003
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Note: This compilation includes only those attacks that resulted in casualties. Numerous other attacks which failed to murder, maim, or wound are not included.
Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: 2000 2001 2002 - 2003 - 2004
Total Death Toll in 2003: 232
Note: The death toll quoted here is just the sum of the listings. There may be many omissions from the list. The human rights organisation B'Tselem has complied statistics of about 600 deaths during 2003 in the occupied territories alone.
January (death toll: 56)
- January 2: The body of a 72-year-old Israeli was found in the northern Jordan Valley in his burned out car. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the murder.
- January 5: 23 people, including eight foreigners, are murdered in two nearly simultaneous suicide bombings in central Tel Aviv. More than 100 others were reported seriously injured. Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility. Another arm of Yassar Arafat's movement denied responsibility.
- January 6: Israeli occupation forces raided the Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza and killed three Palestinians and wounded a dozen more. [1] (http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.2003.G.29.En?Opendocument)
- January 12: A 48-year-old man was killed and four people wounded when terrorists infiltrated Moshav Gadish and opened fire. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
- January 12: Two Palestinians was killed and 12 wounded as 50 Israeli army vehicles accompanied with bulldozers and helicopters entered the town of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during the night January 11-12. Seven civilian facilities were blown up. [2] (http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2003/07-2003.htm)
- January 17: A 34-year-old Israeli was killed when terrorists entered his home near Kiryat Arba, and opened fire. His 5-year-old daughter and two others were wounded. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
- January 19: Israeli forces demolish a house in Beit Lahia. [3] (http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2003/11-2003.htm)
- January 26: During the night January 25-26 Israeli forces invaded the al-Zaytoun neighbourhood of Gaza City. Twelve Palestinians were killed, three were hit with shrapnel from an artillery shell and nine were shot dead. 17 workshops were blown up and 15 more was severely damaged. [4] (http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2003/17-2003.htm)
- January 31: 13 Palestinians and over 50 wounded as the IDF made its deepest incursion in Gaza City in years. Scores of buildings was raided and 13 factories blown up, many of them used to manufacture weapons. [5] (http://www.ajn.com.au/pages/archives/intifada/0002-intifada-03.html)
February (no recorded deaths)
March (death toll: 21)
- March 5: 17 killed, about 53 injured in explosion on bus in Haifa.
- March 7: A couple from Kiryat Arba, were killed and five wounded by armed terrorists disguised as Jewish worshippers who infiltrated Kiryat Arba, entered their home and murdered them while they were celebrating the Sabbath. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
- March 16: A US member of the International Solidarity Movement in Rafah, Rachel Corrie was ran over by a bulldozer while trying to prevent it from demolishing a house.
- March 19: A 51-year-old Israeli was shot dead while driving in his car between Mevo Dotan and Shaked in northern Samaria (in the West Bank). The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility.
April (death toll: 14)
- April 8: Two Israeli combat helicopters, accompanied by an F-16 fighter jet, attacked a densely populated area of Gaza City. One helicopter launched two missiles against a civilian car which exploded and killed the two militants inside the car. Soon after a crowd of Palestinians gathered around the car, the helicopter fired a third missile and killed five more. In total seven Palestinians were killed and 53 more were wounded. [6] (http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1350.shtml)
- April 11: Tom Hurndall, a British member of the International Solidarity Movement, was shot in the head by the Israeli army. He died after almost a year in coma January 13, 2004. [7] (http://media.guardian.co.uk/israel/story/0,11876,950262,00.html)
- April 15: An Israeli and a Palestinian were killed and four Israelis were wounded when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at the Karni industrial zone crossing in the Gaza Strip. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
- April 24: A 23-year-old Israeli security guard was killed and 13 were wounded,in a suicide bombing outside the train station in Kfar Sava. Groups related to the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the PFLP claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
- April 30: Three Israelis are killed, about 60 injured when a British Muslim suicide bomber blows himself up outside Mike's Place bar on the Tel Aviv coast. A second would-be suicide bomber, also a British citizen, failed to explode and attempted to escape through the sea. His body was washed away to the shore a few days later. On March 8, 2004, Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, and released a videotape showing an interview with the two terrorists.
May (death toll: 15)
- May 2: A British cameraman was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Rafah. [8] (http://media.guardian.co.uk/israel/story/0,11876,950262,00.html)
- May 5: An Israeli was killed and two others (including the victim's 6-year-old daughter) were seriously wounded when terrorists fired shots at their vehicle near Shvut Rachel, in Samaria. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
- May 11: A 53-year-old Israeli man was shot in the head and killed by Palestinians in a roadside ambush north of Jerusalem. Both Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack.
- May 17: An Israeli couple were killed by a suicide bomber in Hebron. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
- May 18: Palestinian suicide bomber kills seven, wounds 20 on bus in Jerusalem's French Hill district. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
- May 19: A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to a mall in the northern Israeli town of Afula. Three people are killed and about 60 wounded. The Islamic Jihad and the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades both claimed responsibility for the attack.
June (death toll: 26)
- June 5: The bodies of two Israelis were found near Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem, brutally beaten and stabbed to death.
- June 8: Haviv Dadon, 16, of Shlomi was killed and four other Israelis wounded in a Hizbullah rocket attack.
- June 11: 17 people killed and over 100 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated himself on board a #14A bus in downtown Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility.
- June 12: A 51-year-old Israeli was found shot to death in his car in the West Bank. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
- June 17: An Israeli 7-year old girl is killed and three of her family members (including her younger sister) wounded when Palestinians, armed with assault rifles, attack the car they were travelling in, on road no. 6, some few hundreds meters far from Qalqiliya. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
- June 19: An Israeli shopkeeper is killed in Sdei-Trumot (a village in northern Israel), when a Palestinian suicide bomber blows himself up inside the shop. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
- June 20: A 47-year-old Israeli was killed when his car was fired upon in an ambush by Palestinians north of Ramallah. His parents, US citizens, were seriously wounded and his wife lightly injured. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
- June 26: An Israeli phone company employee was killed in a shooting attack by a Palestinian teenager in the Israeli Arab town of Baka al-Garbiyeh. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
- June 30: A 46-year-old construction worker from Bulgaria was killed in a shooting attack on a road west of Jenin, while driving a truck. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, in opposition to the declared ceasefire.
July (death toll: 2)
- July 7: A 65-year-old Israeli woman was killed in her home in Moshav Kfar Yavetz and three of her grandchildren lightly wounded in a terrorist suicide bombing. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
- July 15 A 24-year-old Israeli was stabbed to death while protecting his girlfriend against a Palestinian armed with a long-bladed knife on Tel Aviv's beach-front promenade. The terrorist, who was shot and apprehended, is a member of the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
August (death toll: 27)
- August 12: A 43-year-old Israeli was murdered by a teenage Palestinian suicide bomber who detonated himself in a Rosh Ha'ayin supermarket.
- August 12: Two Israelis were killed by a teenage Palestinian suicide bomber who detonated himself at a bus stop outside Ariel.
- August 19: 23 killed, 136 wounded by an explosion, caused by a Palestinian suicide bomber, on board a bus in Jerusalem. Among the victims are several children. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Hebron, and Hamas claim responsibility for the attack.
- August 29: A 25-year old Israeli was killed in a shooting attack while driving north-east of Ramallah. His wife who was seven months pregnant, sustained moderate injuries, and gave birth to a baby girl by Caesarean section. The Fatah al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
September (death toll: 18)
- September 4: South-east of Deir Al Balah about 40 dunums of agricultural land was razed by the Israeli army. 1 (http://www.poica.org/casestudies/Gaza%2016-09-2003/#Table)
- September 7: The Israeli army destroyed seven houses and damaged several others in the Rafah refugee camp. [9] (http://www.poica.org/casestudies/Gaza%2016-09-2003/)
- September 9: Nine non-combat soldier were killed and over 30 wound when a suicide bomber exploded in a bus stop near Asaf-Ha-Rofe hospital and the military base of Tzrifin. Hamas claimed responsibility.
- September 9: Seven people were killed and over 50 wounded when a suicide bomber exploded at the Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility.
- September 11: In the Yibna refugee camp 16 houses along with water and phone lines were destroyed by the Israeli army. [10] (http://www.poica.org/casestudies/Gaza%2016-09-2003/)
- September 26: A 7-month-old baby girl and a 29-year-old man are killed, and both of the baby's parents are wounded, when a Palestinian gunman enters their home in Negohot (in the West Bank) and opens fire, during the family's celebration of the Jewish New Year.
October (death toll: 41)
- October 4: 21 people are killed and 64 wounded when the female suicide bomber Hanadi Jaradat explodes in the Jewish-Arab Maxim restaurant in Haifa. Four of the victims were children, including a 2-month-old. The Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the suicide-massacre. The terrorist attack came just a day before Yom Kippur.
- October 19: Three Israeli soldiers are killed and two more are injured after a roadside ambush near Ein-Yabrud village, south to Ofra on the West Bank.
- October 20: The Israeli air force launched five attacks in Gaza, killing 14 people and wounding 100. [11] (http://www.palestinereport.org/art.php?article=128)
- October 24: Two female soldiers and one male soldier are killed after two terrorists infiltrated into the military court inside Netzarim settlement on the Gaza Strip. Three more soldier were wounded.
November (death toll: 8)
- November 18: Two soldiers were killed by a Palestinian gunman in a checkpoint near Bethlehem.
- November 19: Four people were injured and one women was killed, when an Arab terrorist, Ahmed Jahid, opened fire on a group of tourist in Rabin border crossing between the Arava (Israel) and Aqaba (Jordan). The terrorist was killed by Israeli security guards and it is believed he was sent by Al-Qaeda.
- November 22: Two Israeli civilian security guards were killed in a construction site near Nahal Kidron at the outskirts of Jerusalem. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
- November 26: Three Palestinian civilians riding in a car on the Gaza Strip were killed by Israeli soldiers. [12] (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C859E6EB-C62B-48AC-8970-67D6718A06A6.htm)
December (death toll: 4)
- December 3: The Israeli security forces captured two terrorists on their way to commit a massacre in Yokne'am school. The two were members of the Palestinian security apparatus and were armed with 10 kg explosive belt. More details: [13] (http://www.idf.il/newsite/english/120403-2.stm), [14] (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/368171.html).
- December 25: 4 Israelis were killed as a 17-years-old suicide bomber blew himself up in a bus station on a main road between Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva. The PFLP claimed responsibility.