Hussam Muhammad Bilal Abdo (Arabic: حسام محمد بلال عبده; born 24 February 1990[1]) is a Palestinian from the Masahiya area of Nablus, who, as a teenager, made international headlines on 24 March 2004, when he entered the Hawara Checkpoint in the West Bank, with eight kilos (18 lbs) of explosives strapped to his body as part of a suicide attack attempt.
Abdo, then reportedly aged 14,[2] approached the checkpoint running towards the soldiers, wearing 8 kilograms (18 lbs) of explosives on a vest with the activation switch in his hands.
After all the people were ordered to safety, a specialized Bomb disposal robot was sent to him with a pair of scissors, so that he could cut off the explosives, all the while telling soldiers that he did not want to die.
Fatah's military wing of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus took responsibility for the sending of the boy.
[5] The Age reported that Hussam said, in an interview, that after years of bullying by classmates, he wanted to reach the paradise he had learned about in Islamic teachings.
[6] Abdo's story, and that of the child suicide bombing phenomenon in the Palestinian Territories, was captured in the award-winning documentary, The Making of A Martyr, by Brooke Goldstein and Alistair Leyland.
[11] According to Shafiq Masalha, a clinical psychologist who teaches at Tel Aviv University's education program, 15% of Palestinian children dream of becoming suicide bombers.