Eli Zfira

Jan 29, 2004 - Eli Zfira, 48, of Jerusalem was one of 11 people killed in a suicide bombing on a no. 19 Egged bus at the corner of Gaza and Arlozorov streets in Jerusalem.

Bus no. 19 starts its route at Hadassah Ein Kerem and makes its way through the center of Jerusalem to Hadassah Hospital and the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. The bomber was in the back of the bus when he detonated the explosives as the bus drove up Gaza Street. The blast tore apart the bus, turning it into a twisted wreck. The back half of the roof was blown into the air and every window was blown out. In addition, over 50 people were wounded, 13 of them seriously. Both the Fatah-related Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eli Zfira used to take the bus every morning from his home in the Gonen neighborhood in Jerusalem, to the experimental school in central Jerusalem, where he worked as a maintenance man. On Thursday morning Eli and his wife Iris brought their 20-month-old son Avior to kindergarten. Iris was trying to conceive again, and Eli accompanied her to a fertility test. She dropped him off at 8:45 A.M. at the capital's Herzog Boulevard, to take the No. 19 bus. Iris said, "We wanted to bring Avior a sister, but we didn't succeed."

Eli, 48, had worked for many years at the experimental school, where he was described as a "man devoted to children, who knew all of them personally and had a strong bond with them." The principal of the elementary school, Yoav Shor, said that the last time he spoke to Eli was when he called Shor while he was on military reserve duty, to report an electrical fault at the school. "I told him I couldn't do much from where I was serving, but he insisted that it was important for him that the children did not suffer due to problems with the heating system."

Eli Zfira was buried in Jerusalem. He is survived by his wife, Iris, son Avior, and two daughters.