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The 7 April 2011 Hamas school bus attack was an incident in which Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a Kornet anti-tank missile over the border at an Israeli school bus. Hamas claimed responsibility. The fact that the Russian-made Kornet is a laser-guided weapon indicated that the school bus was intentionally targeted.

The missile hit the school bus moments after most of the children had gotten off. The only remaining passenger, 16-year-old boy Daniel Viflic, was critically injured with shrapnel wounds to the head and died from his injuries on 17 April. The driver was lightly injured.

The attack was condemned by the United Nations, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Israel said it would defend itself and that the attack illustrated the character of the Gaza regime. A Palestinian Authority official commented that "the bus wasn't that badly damaged", adding that Israel is racist and apartheid.

Fears that the attack would spark a second Gaza War did not materialize, but the incident opened a several-day stretch of violence in which Palestinians launched over 100 projectiles at Israel and Israeli responses left 19 Hamas militants and two civilians dead.

Background
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has carried out dozens of terrorist attacks killing Israelis and others. It is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.

Since 2001, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have launched thousands of rockets and mortars on Israeli cities and towns. In the 48 hours prior to the attack, Palestinians had fired a separate anti-tank missile at an Israeli target. Anti-tank missiles, unlike rockets and mortars, are extremely accurate, and their use requires more skill.

Attack and rescue
The school bus had just left Kibbutz Nahal Oz on its way to the Sa'ad intersection, about 2.5 kilometers from the border with Gaza Strip. Moments after most of the children got off, the missile hit the bus in the rear. Only two people were on the bus at this point – the driver, Zion Yamini, and 16-year-old boy Daniel Viflic, who was en route to visit his grandmother. Viflic was wounded in the head by shrapnel from the missile. Yamini was lightly injured in the leg, but managed to pull the bus over to the side of the road, where he carried Viflic out of the vehicle.

Paramedics arrived quickly, and tried to revive Viflic while sustaining additional Palestinian mortar fire. The boy was airlifted in critical condition to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. His brain stopped functioning shortly after, and he died ten days later. Roads in the area were immediately sealed off for fear of additional attacks.

Immediate aftermath
Over the next three hours, at least 45 additional Palestinian projectiles hit Israel. Residents were instructed to stay inside their homes, children were ordered to stay inside schools, and police sealed roads in the area for fear of additional attacks. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton "strongly" condemned the attacks. Details of some of the incidents:
 * One mortar hit a home in the Eshkol Regional Council. The house was damaged but no injuries were reported.
 * A Grad missile fired at Ashkelon was intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, marking the first successful interception of a short range rocket in history.
 * After nightfall, three Qassam rockets were fired into the Ashkelon Coast and Eshkol regional councils. No injuries or damage were reported.

Israel responded with airstrikes on terror cells and smuggling tunnels.

Reactions

 * International
 * 🇺🇳 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and urged Israel to act with "maximum restraint".
 * 🇫🇷 The French Foreign Ministry released a statement saying: "France strongly condemns the missile, rocket and mortar attacks against civilians yesterday in southern Israel. In this regard, firing an anti-tank missile at a school bus represents a new escalation. We call for an immediate halt to this violence. France deplores the humanitarian consequences of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip that came in response, resulting in several civilian casualties. It is urgent to end the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip. We call on all the parties to respect a lasting truce. These events remind us, as if it were necessary, of the urgency of reaching a negotiated resolution to the conflict.
 * 🇬🇧 British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "I unreservedly condemn today’s attack from Gaza on a bus carrying school children in southern Israel. The initial reports we have received suggest the bus was deliberately targeted and that a 16-year-old boy has been critically injured. This is a despicable and cowardly act that stands in stark contrast to people’s desire for peaceful reform across the region. Violence will never deliver peace. I reiterate that Hamas must halt these strikes immediately, and rein in other militant factions in Gaza. This attack further highlights Israel’s legitimate security concerns. As I have made clear, Israel has every right to protect its people.".
 * After the death of Viflic, Hague expressed his condolences to the family: "Daniel was just 16. The tragedy of his death is brought home all the more in that it occurs on the eve of Passover, normally a time of celebration for Jewish families all over the world. I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to Daniel's family, and I reiterate my utter abhorrence of the cowardly attack which cost him his life, and my call for an end to all such attacks on innocent civilians."


 * 🇺🇸 A US State Department official said: "We condemn the attack on innocent civilians in southern Israel in the strongest possible terms, and on-going rocket fire from Gaza. As we have reiterated many times, there is no justification for the targeting of innocent civilians, and those responsible for these terrorist attacks should be held accountable. We are deeply concerned about reports that indicate the use of an advanced antitank weapon in an attack against civilians, and reiterate that all countries have obligations under relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition."


 * Israeli
 * 🇮🇱 Israeli President Shimon Peres said to United Nations Security Council ambassadors: "I was just informed that an Israeli bus carrying students from school was hit by a missile fired from Gaza. This is another example of how Gaza has turned into a terror state. Can the United Nations guarantee that terrorist acts will not happen? None of you would give up on the security of your country, and Israel will also defend itself. Hundreds of thousands of mothers and children in southern Israel cannot sleep peacefully at night as a result of the rocket fire from Gaza."


 * Palestinian
 * Omar al-Ghoul, senior advisor to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, said on Palestinian Authority television: "The bus wasn't that badly damaged. Israel uses the attack on the bus as an excuse for its latest war crime against our people. Israel is a country that was founded on aggression and colonialism and it lives on the continuation of bloodshed, war and violence. The racist Israeli apartheid aggression is currently focused on Gaza, under the pretext of a shell being fired at an Israeli bus."