The Netanya suicide attack (also known as the Netanya bombing and the Passover massacre) was a Palestinian suicide bombing in Park Hotel at Netanya on March 27, 2002. The attack killed 30 Israeli civilians and triggered Operation Defensive Shield.

The attack occurred on the night of March 27, when the traditional Jewish holiday of Passover was celebrated. Park Hotel in Netanya held a big Passover dinner for its 250 guests, especially elderly Jews who don't have family and relative, in the ground-floor dinning room. A Palestinian suicide bomber entered the hotel dining room and detonated an explosive device he carried upon himself. 28 people were immediately killed, and about 140 were injured, of whom 20 were seriously injured. Two of the injured later died from their wounds. Some of its victims were Holocaust survivors. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The terrorist was identified as Abdel-Basset Odeh, a member of the Hamas Iz a Din al-Kassam Brigades, from the nearby Westbank city of Tulkarem.

Leaders from around the world denounced the massacre as an immoral terrorist act. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his cabinet ordered the immediate recruit of 20,000 reservist in an emergency call-up and in the following day launched Operation Defensive Shield.

The victims

• Shula Abramovitch, 63, of Holon
• David Anichovitch, 70, of Netanya
• Sgt.-Maj. Avraham Beckerman, 25, of Ashdod
• Shimon Ben-Aroya, 42, of Netanya
• Alter Britvich, 88, of Netanya
• Frieda Britvich, 86, of Netanya
• Andre Fried, 47, of Netanya
• Idit Fried, 47, of Netanya
• Miriam Gutenzgan, 82, of Ramat Gan
• Amiram Hamami, 44, of Netanya
• Perla Hermele, 79, of Stockholm, Sweden [1] (http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0lef0)
• Dvora Karim, 73, of Netanya
• Michael Karim, 78, of Netanya
• Eliezer Korman, 74, of Ramat Hasharon
• Yehudit Korman, 70, of Ramat Hasharon
• Marianne Myriam Lehmann Zaoui, 77, of Netanya
• Lola Levkovitch, 70, of Jerusalem
• Sarah Levy-Hoffman, 89, of Tel-Aviv
• Furuk Na'imi, 62, of Netanya
• Eliahu Nakash, 85, of Tel-Aviv
• Chanah Rogan, 90, of Netanya
• Irit Rashel, 45, of Moshav Herev La'et
• Clara Rosenberger, 77, of Jerusalem
• Yulia Talmi, 87, of Tel-Aviv
• St.-Sgt. Sivan Vider, 20, of Moshav Bekaot
• Zee'v Vider, 50, of Moshav Bekaot
• Ernest Weiss, 80, of Petah Tikva
• Eva Weiss, 75, of Petah Tikva
• Anna Yakobovitch, 78, of Holon
• George Yakobovitch, 76, of Holon

See also

• Terrorism against Israel
• List of massacres committed during the Al-Aqsa Intifada