Aug 31, 2004 - Karine Malka, 23, 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.
Karine Malka, the youngest in her family, was a student of industrial management at the local College of the Negev. She was on her way to the city's Nurit Absorption Center, where she worked as an educator with new immigrants from Ethiopia, when she was killed.
"Karine was the kind of girl who was always laughing, always had a smile on her face," recalled her friend, Ziv Davidov.
After graduating high school and serving in the Paratroopers Brigade, Malka traveled to London and then returned to Beersheba to study and work.
She had become religiously observant a year ago, said Tali Ya'acobian, the director of the absorption center. "She was an amazing girl, and very smart. She gave her all in working with the children, and would always stay late in order to help. It will be very hard to tell the children that she's gone." Among those with whom she worked are the six children of Tekele Tiroyaient, also killed in the terror attack.
Malka had premonitions of death, and would often tell her family, "I'm probably going to be killed in a terrrorist attack," her brother, Yossi, recalled. "She kept repeating it," he said.
Karine Malka was buried in Beersheba. She is survived by her parents, Sara and Rafi, a brother, Yossi, and sister, Orit.