Prison Warr.Off. Shimshon Stelkol

Apr 10, 2002 - Prison Warr.Off. Shimshon Stelkol, 33, of Kiryat Yam 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.

Shimshon Stelkol worked as a warden at the Ashmoret prison in the Sharon area. There, for a time, he was responsible for guarding Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Shimshon did not usually take the No. 960 bus to work and his wife Sigal was not worried when she heard about the bomb. Only when representatives of the police arrived at her house, did she learn that he had been killed. Ironically, the bombing was carried out by a member of Hamas.

Stelkol and his wife became newly religious six years ago. His sister-in-law, Ruti Peretz, said, "Shimshon was a modest man. He worked shifts, and on the days he was home spent time with his children, reading them stories."

Shimshon Stelkol was buried in the Tzur Shalom cemetery in Afek. He is survived by his wife Sigal, and their three daughters: Lior (6), Hodaya (4) and Batsheva (16 months).