Daniel Haroush

March 5, 2003 - Daniel Haroush, 16, of Safed, was one of 17 people killed in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus on Moriah Boulevard in the Carmel section of Haifa.

The bus was traveling on the city's main Moriah Boulevard near the Carmel Center, on the way to Haifa University, when the blast turned the bus into a charred wreck and scattered bodies along the road. The suicide bomber, who had boarded the bus, had the bomb strapped to his body, laden with metal shrapnel in order to maximize the number of injuries. A total of 17 people were killed and 53 injured.

Haroush, an 11th grader at the military academy affiliated with Haifa's Reali High School, had finished classes early because most of his schoolmates had gone on a school trip to Poland. He had gone downtown to pick up forms for driver's education classes and was on his way back to school when the terrorist struck.

His sister, Ronit, related how their parents had just last week signed permission for Daniel to join the regular army upon his enlistment next year, because he planned on a military career. "He wanted to take the pilot's course, that was his dream, and he would have made it," said Ronit. "He was outstanding in everything he did, ever since he was little. This summer he was supposed to take a parachuting course."

Daniel Haroush was buried in Safed. He is survived by his parents, Moni and Tzippi, and three older sisters.