The name of the third victim of the Afula bus attack on Monday has been released: Kiril Shremko, 23, a new immigrant from the former Soviet Union who lived here alone. He had just recently completed his army service.
One of the wounded, Hadar (bat Sarah) Gitlin, was the female security guard who tried to check a "suspicious Arab woman" at the entrance to the HaAmakim Mall. She did not get the chance to do so, because the "suspicious Arab woman" detonated the bomb she was wearing as Hadar - only two days on the job - tried to approach her. The bomb killed Shremko, the male guard, instantly and critically wounded Hadar. Hadar was to have completed her shift at 4 PM, but remained longer when her replacement was delayed; the attack occurred at around 5 PM. A spokesman for the HaEmek Hospital in Afula said that her condition has stabilized, and "there is room for some cautious optimism."
Just over eight years ago, Hadar sat in the same hospital, praying for her older sister Mor, who had been seriously wounded in a terrorist attack in Beit Lid, outside Netanya. Twenty soldiers and one civilian were murdered in the double suicide massacre - but Mor later recovered. The sisters have now traded places, with Mor sitting and praying by Hadar's bedside.
Another wounded victim of the attack in Afula is Dr. Shmuel Yurfost, 48, a surgeon in Afula's HaEmek Hospital who has operated on many terrorist victims himself over the past years. One of the three seriously wounded transferred to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, he has lost an eye, and was seriously wounded in his other eye as well. His condition is also said to be improving.
The army, which just recently announced cutbacks in its Yesha deployment because of financial constraints, has now strengthened its forces there in light of the sudden wave of terrorism on both sides of the Green Line. The Green Line separates pre-1967 Israel from Judea, Samaria and Gaza. A senior officer in General Palestinian Intelligence, involved in many shooting attacks in the Binyamin region, was apprehended last night by Israeli forces. He had been hiding out until recently in Arafat's Mukata headquarters in Ramallah.
One of the wounded, Hadar (bat Sarah) Gitlin, was the female security guard who tried to check a "suspicious Arab woman" at the entrance to the HaAmakim Mall. She did not get the chance to do so, because the "suspicious Arab woman" detonated the bomb she was wearing as Hadar - only two days on the job - tried to approach her. The bomb killed Shremko, the male guard, instantly and critically wounded Hadar. Hadar was to have completed her shift at 4 PM, but remained longer when her replacement was delayed; the attack occurred at around 5 PM. A spokesman for the HaEmek Hospital in Afula said that her condition has stabilized, and "there is room for some cautious optimism."
Just over eight years ago, Hadar sat in the same hospital, praying for her older sister Mor, who had been seriously wounded in a terrorist attack in Beit Lid, outside Netanya. Twenty soldiers and one civilian were murdered in the double suicide massacre - but Mor later recovered. The sisters have now traded places, with Mor sitting and praying by Hadar's bedside.
Another wounded victim of the attack in Afula is Dr. Shmuel Yurfost, 48, a surgeon in Afula's HaEmek Hospital who has operated on many terrorist victims himself over the past years. One of the three seriously wounded transferred to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, he has lost an eye, and was seriously wounded in his other eye as well. His condition is also said to be improving.
The army, which just recently announced cutbacks in its Yesha deployment because of financial constraints, has now strengthened its forces there in light of the sudden wave of terrorism on both sides of the Green Line. The Green Line separates pre-1967 Israel from Judea, Samaria and Gaza. A senior officer in General Palestinian Intelligence, involved in many shooting attacks in the Binyamin region, was apprehended last night by Israeli forces. He had been hiding out until recently in Arafat's Mukata headquarters in Ramallah.