Attacks in the Gaza Strip – Letter from Israel

GENERAL ASSEMBLY SECURITY COUNCIL

Fiftieth session Fiftieth year

Item 149 of the preliminary list*

MEASURES TO ELIMINATE

  INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

    Letter dated 10 April 1995 from the Permanent Representative of

    Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I wish to draw your attention to the grave acts of terrorism committed by Palestinian terrorists yesterday, in which 7 Israeli citizens and 1 American citizen were killed and 61 people were wounded.  The following are the details of the attacks:

(a) On 9 April 1995, a Palestinian terrorist driving a commercial vehicle loaded with explosives and gas canisters parked in a field along a main highway near Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip.  There, he waited for an Israeli vehicle to approach.  At approximately 11.45 a.m., upon discerning public transportation bus No. 36 from Ashkelon to Kfar Darom, the terrorist pulled alongside the bus and detonated his vehicle;

(b) Eight passengers in the bus were killed and 52 were wounded, one of whom is listed in critical condition;

(c) Agence France Presse said it received a telephone call approximately two hours after the attack from the fundamentalist organization Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the attack.  The Islamic Jihad also circulated leaflets in the Nusirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, praising the terrorist who committed the attack;

(d) At 1.50 p.m., approximately two hours after the attack near Kfar Darom, a Palestinian driving a Fiat 131 loaded with explosives crashed into an Israeli jeep at the Netzarim Junction in the Gaza Strip.  The jeep was the second vehicle in a five-vehicle convoy;

(e) Nine Israelis were wounded in the attack, including the two individuals riding in the jeep which was struck;

(f) The fundamentalist organization Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was carried out by one of its members from the Gaza Strip.

Since the signing of the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements (A/48/486-S/26560) with the Palestine Liberation Organization on 13 September 1993, 125 Israelis have been killed by Palestinian terrorists in 52 separate attacks, most committed by Islamic fundamentalist organizations which receive support and guidance from like-minded States in the region, especially the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Following yesterday's attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said, "I have no doubt that the objective of the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad is to kill Israelis and Palestinians in order to murder the peace. …  The Palestinian Authority must prove that it can act against these groups."

These grievous acts of violence demand unequivocal condemnation on the part of the international community.  Israel calls upon the parties in the region and the entire international community to cooperate in combating the terrorist threat posed by groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and their supporters and sponsors.

Israel, for its part, will not be swayed from its commitment to peace.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under item 149 of the preliminary list and of the Security Council.

(Signed)  Gad YAACOBI            

Ambassador            

Permanent Representative of Israel

to the United Nations      

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* A/50/50.

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