Reem Riyashi

Reem Riyashi
Born	Reem Saleh Riyashi 1981/1982 (age 44–45) Sheik Ajlin, Gaza City, Gaza Strip
💀Died	14 January 2004 (aged 22) Erez Crossing, Southern District, Israel14 January 2004 (aged 22)
Cause of death	Suicide bombing
💼 Occupation
👶 Children	2

Reem Saleh Riyashi (; 1981 or 1982–14 January 2004) was a Palestinian suicide bomber from Gaza City who killed herself and four Israelis at the Erez crossing on 14 January 2004. Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed that the attack by Riyashi was a joint operation mounted as a response to weeks of Israeli incursions into West Bank cities that had left about 25 Palestinians dead.

Life and videotaped message

Reem Riyashi was born in 1981 or 1982 in Sheik Ajlin, Gaza City, Gaza Strip. Unlike most bombers, Riyashi came from a wealthy family. She was the eighth Palestinian female suicide bomber, and the second to have left behind children. Riyashi was the first female suicide bomber sent by Hamas, whose spiritual leader at the time, Ahmed Yassin had initially objected to the involvement of women in such actions, altering this position shortly before his assassination by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in March 2004. After having two children, Riyashi recorded a message. She was dressed in military fatigues, wore a black headscarf and a black long-sleeve skirt, and held an AK-47 assault rifle. She expressed her dreamed of being the first woman turning "my body into deadly shrapnel against the Zionists" since she was 13. She added that, while she did love her children, her love to see Allah was stronger.

Attack

Main article: Erez Crossing bombing

On 14 January 2004, Riyashi detonated a 2 kg bomb inside the Erez Crossing, a border crossing where thousands of Palestinians who cross each day from Gaza to work in a neighbouring industrial zone are processed. The IDF reported that when she reached the metal detector at the terminal, Riyashi pretended to be disabled and claimed to have metal plates in her leg that sounded the alarm. She asked to have a body search instead. After being taken to an area where a group of soldiers and policemen were checking bags, she was told to wait for a woman to come and search her in a cubicle. It was then that she detonated the explosive device, which killed herself, two Israeli soldiers, a policeman and a civilian security worker, and injured seven other Israelis and four Palestinians.

Victims

• Staff Sergeant Tzur Or, 20, of Rishon Lezion
• Corporal Andrei Kegeles, 19, of Nahariya
• Gal Shapira, 28, of Ashkelon
• Staff Sergeant Vladimir Trostinsky, 22, of Rehovot

Burial

Later that night, Israel handed her body back to Hamas, where it was picked up by an ambulance. Hamas members stated that a coffin was brought to Al-Shifa Hospital, where she was placed and then taken to Gaza City's main mosque, where prayers were held, before she was buried. 20 men carried the coffin, wrapped in a green flag, on which was written "There is no God but Allah," while 100 people shot rifles in the air, waved green flags, and shouted slogans.

Reactions

Family reaction

At the time of Riyashi's death, her son Obeida was three years old, and her daughter Doha 18 months old. A traditional memorial tent was immediately set up by her family near her home in Gaza City. Riyashi's relatives had no explanation for why a mother with children so young would choose to become a suicide bomber. Her brother-in-law, Yusuf Awad, denounced the attack, adding that "we don't accept women doing such things."

Palestinian public

Hamas received widespread criticism among Palestinians and some supporters for deploying a young mother as a suicide bomber and for publishing photographs of Riyashi posing with her children and weapons. In one photograph, Riyashi's son is clutching what appears to be a mortar shell and is wearing a Hamas headband while another picture shows Riyashi gazing at her children.

Hamas defended its decision to release the photographs stating that the pictures revealed the depth of the despair of Palestinian women and the depth of their desire to defeat the occupation. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin said that Riyashi's example would inspire more women to die in the fight against Israel, urging more to volunteer. Hani Almasri, a Palestinian journalist at Al-Ayyam, told the Associated Press that Hamas' decision to release the photographs damaged the Palestinian cause and that Hamas would gain little advantage by these actions since in his opinion, there was less support from among the Palestinian people for military operations than had been the case previously.

Cultural depictions

Riyashi's children appeared on a 2009 episode of Palestinian children's TV show Tomorrow's Pioneers.

See also

• Suicide bomber
• Female suicide bomber
• Palestinian political violence
• Al-Aqsa Intifada
• Andalib Suleiman
• Ayat al-Akhras
• Hanadi Jaradat
• Samar Sabih
• Wafa Idris

References

This article "Reem Riyashi" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Reem Riyashi. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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