Aug 31, 2004 - Aviel Atash, 3, of Beersheba was one of 16 people killed in twin suicide bus bombings in Beersheba city buses. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
The two explosions took place within minutes of each other on two Beersheba city buses, on route nos. 6 and 12, shortly before 3:00 P.M. The buses were traveling along Beersheba's main street, Rager Blvd, near the city hall. About 100 people were wounded.
Aviel was riding home with his mother, Rahel, after buying diapers at the Negev Mall, instead of going as usual to nursery school. She was seriously wounded in the explosion and hospitalized in the intensive care department at Beersheba's Soroka Hospital. His father, Israel, identified his body with the aid of a DNA sample.
"Aviel was their gift from God," said a neighbor. "Every child is a treasure for its parents," noted a relative, "but Aviel was his mother's whole life. She married just three years ago at the age of 39, after many years of being single, and this boy was everything to her."
"She has endured enough tragedies in life not to have to go through this one," recalled her husband, Israel, noting that Rahel's sister was murdered some 20 years ago and she lost a brother in an industrial fire two years ago. "But what can one do? That's life."
Aviel was enrolled in a religious nursery school. His neighbors recalled that he was a sweet child. "Rahel would always say how much the other children loved Aviel," one said. "Rahel would walk him to nursery school singing songs to him. She was always close to him."
Aviel Atash is survived by his parents, Rahel and Israel, and a grandmother. He was buried at the Beersheba Cemetery.