Yuval Mendelevitch

Yuval Mendelevitch, 13, of Haifa, was one of 15 people killed in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus on Moriah Boulevard in the Carmel section of Haifa.

The bus was traveling on the city's main Moriah Boulevard near the Carmel Center, on the way to Haifa University, when the blast turned the bus into a charred wreck and scattered bodies along the road. The suicide bomber, who had boarded the bus, had the bomb strapped to his body, laden with metal shrapnel in order to maximize the number of injuries. A total of 15 people were killed and 55 injured.

Yuval's father, Yossi, related how his son would phone him every day on his way home from the Reali School. "We were having a normal conversation," Yossi told a radio interviewer, "when suddenly he said, 'I love you, Dad.' In retrospect, those were his last words. The call was cut off."

Yossi and his wife journeyed to Abu Kabir to identify Yuval's body. "They didn't show us Yuval," said Yossi, "and it was better that way. I want to remember him whole, a handsome boy, like in his pictures."

"He was a boy with great potential. He loved computer games, mathematics, wall climbing, he joined a hiking club, he was a good student at Reali, he loved to help others... [His death] is like a black ink stain spreading over your consciousness; a black hole that will never be filled."

Yuval Mendelevitch and Avigail Leitel, also killed in the bombing, had been part of the Children Teaching Children program at Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva since last September - a program that teaches pluralism, tolerance and coexistence. They and their classmates were preparing for the upcoming encounter with Arab youth from a neighboring town in just a few days. The encounter will be dedicated to their memory.

Yuval Mendelevitch was buried in Haifa. He is survived by his parents, Yossi and Hagit.