Beit Lid suicide bombing

Beit Lid suicide bombing
The attack site
Location	Beit Lid Junction, Israel
Coordinates	32°19′25″N 34°54′14″E / 32.32361°N 34.90389°E / 32.32361; 34.90389
Date	January 22, 1995 9:30 am (GMT+2)
Attack type	Suicide attack
Deaths	20 Israeli soldiers and one civilian (+ 2 suicide bombers)
Non-fatal injuries	69 Israelis, mostly soldiers
Perpetrators	Two Palestinian suicide bombers (Anwar Soukar and Salah Shaaker). Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

The Beit Lid suicide bombing, (also named Beit Lid massacre) was a suicide attack by Palestinian Islamic Jihad against Israeli soldiers at the Beit Lid Junction on January 22, 1995. It was the first suicide attack by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In 1994, Hani Abed, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative, brokered an alliance between Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. (Hani was later assassinated by Israel). As part of the alliance, Hamas's chief bombmaker, Yahya Ayyash, built the three bombs used by Islamic Jihad for the Beit Lid suicide attack. Each was made using plumber's pipe (one foot long and eight inches (203 mm) wide) and five kilograms of military-grade TNT, surrounded by nails.

The Beit Lid junction is a well-known waypoint towards Netanya. Strategically, it is an important crossroads between Tel Aviv and Haifa located on Highway 4. "On Sunday mornings, Beit Lid was swamped with thousands of young soldiers and aging reservists heading back to military duty from weekend leaves".Ashmoret Prison is located in the southwest corner of the Beit Lid junction. At the time of the bombing, Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, was being held there.

On 22 January 1995, at approximately 9:30 am, a Palestinian suicide bomber, disguised as an Israeli soldier, approached the bus stop at the Beit Lid junction in central Israel. The bus stop was full of Israeli soldiers who were on their way to their bases after their weekend vacation. The suicide bomber walked into the crowd and detonated the hidden explosives belt he was wearing. About three minutes later a second suicide bomber exploded at the same spot, killing and injuring people wounded in the first explosion, as well as bystanders who had rushed to the scene to assist the victims of the first explosion.