The Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) reports that a Palestinian homicide bomber from the terrorist group Hamas has murdered one Israeli and wounded three:

Border Police Cpl. Kfir Ohayon, 20, of Eilat was killed and two other border policemen and a civilian security guard were wounded when a Palestinian worker wearing a belt of explosives blew himself up at the Erez industrial zone Saturday afternoon.

The bomber had entered the complex despite undergoing security checks that were recently beefed up following a previous bombing. It was the fourth terrorist attack at the site since the beginning of the year.

Border policeman Arieh Mahati, 20, was seriously wounded and Border Police officer Yogev Tassah and the security guard were lightly wounded in the explosion. Ohayon was flown together with Mahati by helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, the others were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

The suicide bomber had worked at Erez for two years and had all the necessary permits. He was identified as Fadi al-Amoudi, 22, of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip and was a member of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

While Hamas and Fatah jointly claimed responsibility for the attack, Israeli officers said Hamas had recruited Amoudi, realizing they could take advantage of his workplace to launch an attack.

For more information on Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, click here. For a list of homicide bombings that have claimed the lives of hundreds of Israeli women and children, click here.

I copy the full article below.

Suicide bomber kills 1, wounds 3 at Erez
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH, Apr. 17, 2004, Link

Border Police Cpl. Kfir Ohayon, 20, of Eilat was killed and two other border policemen and a civilian security guard were wounded when a Palestinian worker wearing a belt of explosives blew himself up at the Erez industrial zone Saturday afternoon.

The bomber had entered the complex despite undergoing security checks that were recently beefed up following a previous bombing. It was the fourth terrorist attack at the site since the beginning of the year.

Border policeman Arieh Mahati, 20, was seriously wounded and Border Police officer Yogev Tassah and the security guard were lightly wounded in the explosion. Ohayon was flown together with Mahati by helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, the others were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

The suicide bomber had worked at Erez for two years and had all the necessary permits. He was identified as Fadi al-Amoudi, 22, of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip and was a member of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

While Hamas and Fatah jointly claimed responsibility for the attack, Israeli officers said Hamas had recruited Amoudi, realizing they could take advantage of his workplace to launch an attack.

According to the initial investigation, Amoudi entered Erez through the passage used by Palestinian laborers and continued to the Magen 12 terminal, where he passed through a metal detector, presented his magnetic ID card, and headed toward the large factory complex where some 4,000 Palestinians work. He approached the security personnel and blew himself up.

According to officers, security guards asked Amoudi to lift his shirt, but his explosives belt, resting low on his hips, evaded detection.

Speaking to reporters shortly after, OC Northern Gaza Brig.-Gen. Shmuel Zakai said the security checks prevented a far worse outcome, but was unable to explain why the metal detector's alarm did not sound.

Magen David Adom medic Dror Richter described the wounds as "multitraumatic," but noted there were no shrapnel wounds caused by metal bolts or balls often used by terrorists when making bombs.

Immediately after the attack, all the Palestinian workers at Erez returned to the Gaza Strip and the zone was closed until further notice. Zakai told reporters that in recent weeks the site had been closed a number of times due to warnings of terrorists attacks. However, he noted, no specific warnings were received regarding yesterday's attack.

Ohayon, who started service with the Border Police last August, was stationed at the Nisanit base in the northern Gaza Strip six weeks ago. He is survived by his parents and four siblings. Ohayon will be buried at 2 p.m. today at the Eilat Military Cemetery.

Elsewhere in the territories, the IDF is investigating the wounding of a five-year-old Palestinian girl in Tulkarm by a rubber bullet.

According to officers, soldiers spotted a suspicious car and called on its driver to halt.

The driver ignored the soldiers' calls and a soldier fired a rubber bullet in the air as a warning. The car then stopped briefly then continued, and a soldier fired a second rubber bullet at the vehicle, apparently wounding the girl, who was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.

On Friday night, in an apartment in the Balata refugee camp, two Islamic Jihad members were killed and two others wounded when a bomb they were apparently constructing exploded prematurely.

Also in Tulkarm on Friday afternoon, soldiers shot a Palestinian who threw a firebomb at troops.
East of Nablus, soldiers arrested two Fatah fugitives, and two fugitives were arrested west of Bethlehem and west of Jenin.

In the southern Gaza Strip, shots were fired at soldiers near Rafah and at an IDF post on the Karni-Netzarim road. An anti-tank rocket was fired harmlessly at Kfar Darom in the central Gaza Strip.

Saturday's suicide bombing was the fourth attack at Erez this year. They have claimed the lives of six Israeli security personnel.

In an attack on January 14, two soldiers, a border policeman, and a private security guard – St.-Sgt. Tzur Or, 20, of Rishon Lezion, Cpl. Andre Kegeles, 19, of Nahariya, and Border Police St.-Sgt. Vladimir Trostinski, 22, of Rehovot, and Gal Shapira, 29, of Ashkelon – were killed and nine wounded when a female suicide bomber, Reem Salah al-Rayashi, 21, blew herself up inside the Erez terminal. She had sneaked through with her bomb after claiming to have a metal pin in her leg. Security procedures were supposed to have been tightened following her attack.

Posted by David Melle
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