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2004 Erez Crossing bombing

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Erez Crossing bombing
Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign
Erez Crossing, 2005
2004 Erez Crossing bombing is located in Northwest Negev region of Israel
2004 Erez Crossing bombing
The attack site
LocationErez Crossing, Southern District, Israel
DateJanuary 14, 2004 (2004-01-14)
c. 9:30 am
Attack type
Suicide bombing
Deaths5 (including the perpetrator)
Injured10
Perpetrators
AssailantReem Salah Riyashi

The Erez Crossing bombing was a Palestinian suicide bombing which occurred on January 14, 2004, at the Erez Crossing, a pedestrian and cargo terminal located on the Gaza–Israel barrier. Four Israelis and the suicide bomber were killed. Additionally, 10 people, including four Palestinians, were injured in the attack. The bomber was a 22-year-old Palestinian mother of two from Gaza named Reem Riyashi. Hamas and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack, stating that it was a response to weeks of Israeli incursions into West Bank cities that had left approximately 25 Palestinians dead.

Attack

On Wednesday, 14 January 2004, around 9:30 am, Reem al-Reyashi, a female Palestinian suicide bomber, approached the pedestrian/cargo terminal Erez Crossing.[1] It is a border crossing where thousands of Palestinians who cross each day from Gaza to work in a neighbouring industrial zone are processed.[2] The IDF reported that when she reached the metal detector at the terminal, Riyashi pretended to be disabled and claimed to have metal plates in her leg that sounded the alarm. She asked to have a body search instead. After being taken to an area where a group of soldiers and policemen were checking bags, she was told to wait for a woman to come and search her in a cubicle. It was then that she detonated the concealed 2 kg explosive device, which killed herself, two Israeli soldiers, a policeman and a civilian security worker, and injured seven other Israelis and four Palestinians.[2]

Three soldiers and one civilian employee of the Erez crossing were killed in the attack.[3] 10 people, including four Palestinians, were injured in the attack.[4]

Later that night, Israel handed her body back to Hamas, where it was picked up by an ambulance. Hamas members stated that a coffin was brought to Al-Shifa Hospital, where she was placed and then taken to Gaza City's main mosque, where prayers were held, before she was buried. 20 men carried the coffin, wrapped in a green flag, on which was written "There is no God but Allah," while 100 people shot rifles in the air, waved green flags, and shouted slogans.[5]

Victims

Perpetrators

Hamas and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack. A Hamas spokesman stated that the suicide bomber was a 22-year-old Palestinian mother of two from Gaza named Reem Riyashi (Arabic: ريم صالح الرياشي, romanized: Rīm Ṣāliḥ ar-Riyāshī).[10] She was born in 1981 or 1982 in Sheik Ajlin, Gaza City, Gaza Strip. Unlike most bombers, Riyashi came from a wealthy family. She was the eighth Palestinian female suicide bomber, and the second to have left behind children.[2] Riyashi was the first female suicide bomber sent by Hamas,[11] whose spiritual leader at the time, Ahmed Yassin had initially objected to the involvement of women in such actions, altering this position shortly before his assassination by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in March 2004.[12]

After having two children, Riyashi recorded a message. She was dressed in military fatigues,[2] a black hijab and a black long-sleeve skirt, and she held an AK-47 assault rifle.[5] She expressed her dream of being the first woman turning "[her] body into deadly shrapnel against the Zionists" since she was 13. She added that, while she did love her children, her love to see God was stronger.[2] She said she "always wanted to be the first woman to carry out a martyrdom operation, where parts of [her] body can fly all over and "knocking the door of heaven"."[10] The video was published after the attack.[10]

Reactions

Family reaction

At the time of Riyashi's death, her son Obeida was three years old, and her daughter Doha 18 months old.[13] A traditional memorial tent was immediately set up by her family near her home in Gaza City.[2] Riyashi's relatives had no explanation for why a mother with children so young would choose to become a suicide bomber.[2] Her brother-in-law, Yusuf Awad, denounced the attack, adding that "we don't accept women doing such things."[2]

Palestinian public

Hamas received widespread criticism among Palestinians and some supporters for deploying a young mother as a suicide bomber and for publishing photographs of Riyashi posing with her children and weapons.[13] In one photograph, Riyashi's son is clutching what appears to be a mortar shell and is wearing a Hamas headband while another picture shows Riyashi gazing at her children.[13]

Hamas defended its decision to release the photographs stating that the pictures revealed the depth of the despair of Palestinian women and the depth of their desire to defeat the occupation.[13] Sheikh Ahmad Yassin said that Riyashi's example would inspire more women to die in the fight against Israel, urging more to volunteer.[13] Hani Almasri, a Palestinian journalist at Al-Ayyam, told the Associated Press that Hamas' decision to release the photographs damaged the Palestinian cause and that Hamas would gain little advantage by these actions since in his opinion, there was less support from among the Palestinian people for military operations than had been the case previously.[13]

Cultural depictions

Riyashi's children appeared on a 2009 episode of Palestinian children's TV show Tomorrow's Pioneers.[14][15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Erez Crossing". Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Chris McGreal (January 15, 2004). "Human-bomb mother kills four Israeli at Gaza checkpoint". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved September 2, 2007.
  3. ↑ "BBC NEWS - Middle East - Gaza attack kills four Israelis". January 14, 2004. Archived from the original on February 13, 2026. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  4. ↑ "CNN.com - Female suicide bomber kills at least 4 Israelis - Jan. 14, 2004". CNN. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Palestinians bury woman suicide bomber - UPI.com". United Press International. January 15, 2004. Archived from the original on August 8, 2026. Retrieved August 8, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Staff Sergeant Tzur Or, 20, Rishon Letzion". Haaretz. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Corporal Andrei Kegeles, 19, Nahariya". Haaretz. January 15, 2004. Archived from the original on August 9, 2025.
  8. ↑ "Gal Shapira, 28, Ashkelon". Haaretz. January 15, 2004. Archived from the original on July 10, 2025.
  9. ↑ Moore, Molly (January 15, 2004). "Young Mother Kills 4 at Gaza Crossing". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved August 28, 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 MacKinnon, Ian (December 19, 2023). "'It was my wish to turn my body into deadly shrapnel against the Zionists'". The Times. Archived from the original on December 19, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  11. ↑ Alvanou, Maria. "Hijab of Blood: The role of Islam in Female Palestinian Terrorism". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2007.
  12. ↑ Naaman, Dorit (2007). "Brides of Palestine/Angels of Death: Media, Gender, and Performance in the Case of the Palestinian Female Suicide Bombers". Signs. 32 (4). University of Chicago Press: 933–55. doi:10.1086/512624. ISSN 1545-6943. JSTOR 10.1086/512624. S2CID 146697419.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chris McGreal (January 27, 2004). "Palestinians shocked at use of suicide mother". The Guardian. London. Retrieved September 2, 2007.
  14. ↑ "שידורי הקיץ של חמאס: שחזור מות האם המחבלת" [Hamas summer broadcasts: reconstructing the death of the terrorist mother]. Ynet (in Hebrew). July 9, 2009. Archived from the original on October 5, 2025. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
  15. ↑ Hancocks, Paula (July 15, 2009). "Kids TV praises Gaza mom's suicide bombing - CNN.com". www.cnn.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2026. Retrieved August 4, 2026.

31°33′30″N 34°32′41″E / 31.5582°N 34.5448°E / 31.5582; 34.5448

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