Murder of the Aroyo children
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| Murder of the Aroyo children | |
|---|---|
| Part of 1967–71 Gazan insurgency | |
| Location | Gaza Strip |
| Date | 2 January 1971 |
Attack type | Grenade attack |
| Weapon | Hand grenade |
| Deaths | 2 Israeli children |
| Injured | 2 Israeli civilians |
No. of participants | 3 assailants |
The murder of the Aroyo children was a terrorist attack which occurred on 2 January 1971, in which two Israeli children were killed when Palestinian militants threw a hand grenade into the moving car of the Aroyo family which was touring the Gaza Strip. The attack was a turning point in the way Israel began relating towards terrorist threats originating from the Gaza Strip. Following the attack Israel launched an extensive counter-terror operation in the Gaza Strip.
The Aroyo family (Marco and Clare) had moved in the 1930s from Bulgaria to Malta, where they owned a textile shop in Valletta ("Swiss House"). Their children later moved to the UK.
In 1969, Robert and Preeti Aroyo immigrated to Israel from the United Kingdom[1] and settled in Kiryat Ono.[2] The Aroyo family used to regularly travel across Israel during the weekends.[3]
The attack
On Saturday, 2 January 1971, the Aroyo family was touring the Gaza Strip in their car.[1] In the afternoon, when the family began to make their way back home, they got on the wrong road and as a result they passed along the main road north of Gaza City where a 15-year-old Palestinian boy threw a hand grenade through the window of the moving car of the Aroyo family. The hand grenade fell into the back seat where the children and their mother were sitting. The blast immediately killed 4-year-old Abigail. 7-year-old Marc-Daniel was severely injured and later on died from his injury at the hospital. The mother, Preeti Aroyo, was badly injured and needed lengthy rehabilitation and remained disabled from the incident.[4]
Immediately after the incident, the father, Robert Aroyo, attempted to call for help and turned to two young Arab men who witnessed the incident. His pleas were not answered, as it later turned out that these men operated as observers during the attack. Robert Aroyo, who was slightly wounded in the attack managed to turn the car around and reach an IDF checkpoint, before collapsing.[1][5]
