Galila Bugala

Jun 18, 2002 - Galila Bugala, 11, of Jerusalem, was one of 19 people killed in a suicide bombing at the Patt junction in Egged bus no. 32A traveling from Gilo to the center of Jerusalem.

The terrorist boarded the bus at 7:50 A.M. at the stop in Beit Safafa, an Arab neighborhood opposite Gilo, and almost immediately detonated the large bomb which he carried in a bag stuffed with ball bearings. The blast destroyed the front half of the bus, packed with people on their way to work and schoolchildren. Of the 19 victims, 17 were residents of the Gilo neighborhood; 74 people were injured.

Galila Bugala was born in Israel to a family of Christian Ethiopians who immigrated to Israel 20 years ago. Shortly after her birth, the family returned to Ethiopia, but four years ago, they moved back to Jerusalem, where her parents worked in the hotel industry. Galila attended the Paula Ben-Gurion school in Rehavia and was busy planning her class's end-of-year party, of which she was in charge. This summer, her family was moving to New York, as the tourism slump had cost her parents the

Galila Bugala is survived by her parents, Kidist and Berenho, and an older brother, Hanoch (14).