Ayat al-Akhras

Ayat Al-Akhras
Born	February 20, 1985 Deheishe Refugee Camp
Died	March 29, 2002 Kiryat HaYovel Supermarket, Israel
Nationality	Palestinian

Ayat al-Akhras (February 20, 1985 -March 29, 2002) was the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber who, at age 18 (some sources report her age to be as young as 16), killed herself and two Israeli civilians on March 29, 2002 by detonating explosives belted to her body. The killings gained widespread international attention due to Ayat's age and gender and the fact that one of the victims was also a teenage girl. The killings led U.S. President George W. Bush to observe: “When an 18-year-old Palestinian girl is induced to blow herself up and in the process kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the future itself is dying; the future of the Palestinian people and the future of the Israeli people.”

Akhras was raised in the Deheishe Refugee Camp near Bethlehem, the daughter of Palestinian refugees who themselves grew up in a tent camp in the Gaza Strip. According to Newsweek journalist Joshua Hammer, Akhras's parents "fled from Arab villages near Tel Aviv at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. After Israel won the 1967 war and took control of Gaza, Akhras' parents migrated to the Dehaishe camp", described as "a maze of cinder-block buildings, refuse-strewn alleyways and open sewers". Akhras' father found employment with an Israeli construction firm and was able to build a three-story concrete house, where Akhras and her four brothers and six sisters were raised. Akhras was a straight-A student and had hopes of attending college and becoming a news reporter. In 2001 she became engaged and plans were made for a wedding in July 2002.

During the First Intifada which started in 1987, Akhras' oldest brother was jailed twice for attacking Israeli soldiers. During the Al-Aqsa Intifada or Second Intifada which started in 2000, members of her family were wounded and killed by the Israel Defense Forces. On March 8, 2002, a close friend and neighbor of Akhras that was playing with his toddler was hit by a stray bullet fired by Israeli troops as they were on a counter-terrorism operation.

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