Channels

Scene of Dimona bombing
Photo: AFP

Bomber's aunt: He was depressed following parents' divorce

One of suicide bombers from Hebron who carried out attack in Dimona left his mother letter saying he plans to detonate himself 'in order to get rid of this life which caused me to suffer so much'

Ten days before carrying out the Dimona attack, one of the suicide bombers, Mohammed Herbawi, left his mother a letter saying he planned to detonate himself "in order to get rid of this life which caused me to suffer so much."

 

Herbawi's aunt told Ynet on Tuesday evening that he was in a difficult emotional state following his parents' divorce and because his father married another Palestinian woman.

 

According to the aunt, he recently paid many visits to his relatives in Jerusalem.

 

Herbawi was jailed in Israel until about a year ago after being charged with being a member of the Islamic Jihad. His relatives said that Hamas identified his willingness to carry out an attack and recruited him for the job.

 

However, the relatives refused to say whether they blame the movement for his death.

 

Hebron residents knew that Herbawi and the second bomber, Shadi Zghayer, were Hamas members, but most of the residents were surprised to discover that the two were the suicide bombers who carried out the attack which killed one woman and injured dozens.

 

A city resident told Ynet that the two were not known to be members of the organization's military wing, although Herbawi's brother, Muazat, is jailed in Israel for his membership in Hamas.

 

Herbawi's relative said that he had left the house on Monday morning and told his mother that he would contact her.

 

"He works at a paper factory, not far from home. When he did not return home in the evening, the mother tried to contact him, but to no avail."

 

According to the relative, the mother began to worry, but even after hearing about the bombing, none of the relatives imagined that Herbawi was the one who carried it out.

 

The same relative said that Herbawi was a normal person.

 

"We knew that he was a Hamas supporter all along. Sometimes he was on the line between supporting the organization and being an active member of it. He was not a member of the military wing, who could have carried out a suicide bombing. He was a quiet person, a dedicated worker, and showed no signs of being bothered by such issues up to being directly involved in an attack."

 

Shadi Zghayer's friends told Ynet that he was a normal person, a Hamas supporter, but not actively involved in the organization's military activity. They admitted, however, that "had he been involved in such things, he wouldn't tell the entire world about it.

 

"He worked at a plastics factory, and what we heard from him was that he was taking two days off from the factory he worked at in order to rest. We did not believe that he planned to carry out an attack, and definitely did not think that he was involved when we heard the news of the attack."

 

Gaza mourning tents not dismantled

Hebron residents fear that following the attack, the IDF will once again take harsh measures against them. In the past few months, and essentially for more than a year, the entrance and exit to the city, particularly for Israeli Arabs, were free, contributing to an improvement in the residents and merchants' economic situation.

 

Despite Hamas' announcement that the terrorists came from Hebron, business in Gaza is being conducted as usual. Consolers continued to flock to the mourning tents set up for the two Palestinians whose names were reported on Monday and whose will was broadcast on a videotape.

 

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing, continued to insist Tuesday that they were behind the attack.

 

Meanwhile, sources in the Strip wondered what happened to the two Palestinians presented as the bombers on Monday, raising the possibility that they were arrested by Israel or Egypt or killed during an infiltration attempt.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.05.08, 22:08
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment