Yuri Gushchin

July 24, 2001 - The body of Yuri Gushchin, 18, of Jerusalem, brutally murdered, bearing stab and gunfire wounds, was found in Ramallah.

Shortly before 4 A.M. on July 24, Palestinian security officials informed Israel of the discovery of a body with multiple stab and gunshot wounds near the slaughterhouse between El Bireh and Beit El. The body was handed over to Israeli authorities. The body was identified by Yuri's father.

Yuri Gushchin left his home in the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday night, and did not return home. Police investigation has revealed that he met with Palestinian acquaintances in downtown Jerusalem, who apparently convinced him to accompany them to Ramallah on the pretext of hiring him to renovate an apartment there. Yuri was brutally murdered. Several suspects were subsequently arrested, and the leading suspect was killed while trying to avoid arrest.

Yuri Gushchin immigrated to Israel with his family in 1990 from Moscow. He had recently completed his high school studies at the Ankori school in Jerusalem, and was to be drafted into the army in August. His friends described him as a good student, good-looking, intelligent, and well-liked by his classmates. Yuri's mother is a social worker in the Jerusalem municipality and his father, an engineer by profession, works for Bezek.

Yuri Gushchin was buried in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents and a brother.