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On Thursday, January 17, 2002, a Palestinian terrorist, 24-year-old Abdul Salaam Sadek Hassouneh, killed six people and wounded 33 at a bat mitzvah celebration in Hadera, Israel.[1][2]
| 2002 Hadera attack | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign | |
  The attack site | |
| Native name | הפיגוע באולם ארמון דוד |
| Location | Hadera, Israel |
| Coordinates | 32°26′18″N 34°55′32″E |
| Date | January 17, 2002 c. 9:45 pm (UTC+2) |
Attack type | Mass shooting, massacre, murder-suicide, suicide bombing |
| Weapons | M16 rifle & grenades |
| Deaths | 6 civilians (+1 assailant) |
| Injured | 33 civilians |
| Perpetrator | al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility |
| Assailant | Abdul Salaam Sadek Hassouneh |
The attack took place at 9:45 pm (GMT+2) as guests were departing.[3] The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades assumed responsibility for the attack, claiming it was vengeance for the killing of its leader Raed Karmi. An Israeli police spokesman said the man, apparently on a suicide mission, had thrown several grenades into the Armon David wedding hall, where the Bat Mitzvah celebration had taken place, and detonated explosives on himself. The attacker was shot by police. A belt filled with explosives was found on the attacker.[1]
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Al Jazeera was criticized for bias in coverage of the massacre for not including in their coverage that the victims were attending a bat mitzvah and that the gunman crashed the event at a crowded banquet hall.[4]
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the attacker, 24-year-old Abdel Salam Hassouna, was from a village near Nablus and launched the attack to avenge the death of Raed Karmi.[1]
After the attack a video made earlier by the attacker was released, in which he is seen declaring: "I am doing this to avenge all the Palestinian martyrs."[4]
![[icon]](#/media/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2011) |
- Involved parties
Israel
Palestinian territories:
- The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack but blamed Israel for provoking it.[3]
- International
United States: the US government condemned the Hadera attack "in the strongest possible terms," calling it a "horrific act of terrorism."[3] The widow of the one American killed in the attack, Aharon Ellis, brought a lawsuit against the Palestinian Authority that received a $173 million default judgment in 2006, and in 2009 was settled out of court.[5]
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