Mazal Marciano

Mar 14, 2004 - Mazal Marciano, 30, of Ashdod was one of ten people were killed in a double suicide bombing at Ashdod Port. Hamas and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.

Shortly before 5:00 p.m. the first terrorist got inside the port and blow himself up close to a group of workers standing next to a machine repair workshop. The explosion blew the roof off the workshop, and five workers were killed immediately. A few moments later, the second suicide terrorist detonated his bomb on the sidewalk in a storage and refrigeration area adjacent to the port. The blast destroyed a trailer, killing three office workers. Two others died in hospital; 16 were wounded.

Mazal Marciano worked as the marketing manager for the Nehemia Lahovitz meat products company. Company owner Gal Lahovitz said the suicide bomber had detonated his device right behind where Marciano was sitting. Lahovitz described Mazal as a dedicated and diligent worker who had contributed much to the company in her 10 years with it.

Mazal's friends described her as beautiful, the queen of her school class, who was devoted to her two small children. "We knew this round of terror attacks would reach us too, and every time we saw pictures of terror attacks on the television, we felt it would happen to us one day," one of Mazal's brothers said last night. Mazal was a close friend of Maurice Tubul, also killed in the bombing, who had been neighbors and classmates as children.

Mazal Marciano will be buried in Ashdod. She is survived by her husband Oren and two sons, aged 6 and 18 months.