Avivim school bus bombing

Template:Short description Template:Pp-extended Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox terrorist attack Template:Campaignbox Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon The Avivim school bus bombing was a terrorist attack on an Israeli school bus on 22 May 1970, in which 12 civilians were killed, nine of them children, and 25 were wounded, one of whom died of a wound sustained in the attack 44 years later. The attack took place on the road to Moshav Avivim, near Israel's border with Lebanon. Two rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the bus.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The attack was one of the first carried out by the PFLP-GC.<ref name=Yodfat>Template:Cite book</ref>

Attack

Early in the morning, the bus departed from Avivim heading with its passengers to two local schools. This route had been scouted by the Palestinian militants, believed to have infiltrated from Lebanon, and an ambush was set up. As the bus passed by, ten minutes after leaving Avivim, it was attacked by heavy gunfire from both sides of the road. The driver was among those hit in the initial barrage,<ref>As history repeatsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> as were the two other adults on board. The three were killed as the bus crashed into an embankment as the attackers continued firing into the vehicle.

The attackers were never apprehended.Template:Citation needed

Fatalities

The children, who were in first to third grade, were buried in a special plot in Safed. A monument commemorating the victims of the attack stands in the middle of the moshav.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Ester Avikezer, 23<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Yehuda Ohayon, 10<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Yafa Batito, 8<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mimon Biton, 7<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Haviva Biton, 7<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hanna Biton, 8<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Shimon Biton, 9<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Shulamit Biton, 9<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Makhlouf Biton, 28<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Aliza Peretz, 14<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rami Yarkoni, 29<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Shimon Azran, 35<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Leah Revivo, who survived the attack at age nine, died in 2014 at age 52 from an infection brought on by a piece of shrapnel lodged in her brain as a result of the attack.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Aftermath

In response to the ambush, Israel launched artillery strikes on southern Lebanon, killing twenty civilians, wounding forty, and prompting thousands of residents to flee north.<ref name="morris">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="dolnik">Template:Cite book</ref> The IDF also began conducting regular armored patrols inside southern Lebanon.<ref name="morris"/> These events were later cited as one of the motivations for the Dawson's Field hijackings of 6 September 1970.<ref name="dolnik"/>