Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Ze'ev Hanik

Apr 10, 2002 - Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Ze'ev Hanik, 24, of Karmiel was one of eight people killed in a suicide bombing on Egged bus #960, en route from Haifa to Jerusalem, which exploded near Kibbutz Yagur, east of Haifa.

The express route bus had left the new Haifa Bay bus station at 7:00 AM. The suicide bomber, from the Jenin refugee camp, boarded the bus wearing IDF fatigues and carrying an army conscript bag in order to avoid drawing attention. Just after passing the Yagur junction, he detonated his explosives belt, killing 8 and wounding 22.

Ze'ev Hanik, a combat medic in the Givati Brigade, was called to reserve duty during the Passover holiday. He was returning by bus with Shlomi Ben Haim and Nir Danieli to their reserve service in Bethlehem, when they were killed in the explosion.

Ze'ev was born in Karmiel, where his parents had settled after immigrating to Israel from the former Soviet Union in the '70s. The principal of the local ORT high school, where Ze'ev majored in biotechnology, said that, although he was born in Israel, he had the manners of a European gentleman. "I shall never forget his blue eyes. He was beautiful," she said.

Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Ze'ev Hanik was buried in the militery section of the Karmiel cemetery. He is survived by his parents, Boris and Rima, and his older sister, Ilana (25).