Among the passengers on the bus were Rabbi Eliezer Mordechai Weiss, his 26-year-old wife Rachel, a second-grade teacher in Tiberias, and their sons Netanel, 3, Rephael, 2, and Ephraim, 9+1⁄2 months, who were on their way to a family affair in Jerusalem.

They originally had been sitting together in the front of the bus, but Rachel and the children moved to the back in order not to disturb her husband's Torah study.

But as the flames began to spread inside the bus, Rachel Weiss went into shock, then threw herself on her children in a vain attempt to keep them alive.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) corporal David Delarosa, a passenger who had exited the bus, noticed Weiss sitting near the back door, and begged her to come out, but she refused.

[1][6][7] Among the wounded were Dov Bloom, 35, and Sandy, 33, a couple from kibbutz Ma'ale Gilboa, who had made aliyah from Pittsburgh 9 years earlier.

Before dawn the next day, a bulldozer began ripping out the groves of banana, orange, and date trees the attackers had used as cover.

The release was part of a deal in the resumption of long-stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority.