page_title: Shaar HaNegev school bus attack
section_title: The attack
hierarchical_section_title: Shaar HaNegev school bus attack / The attack
caption_attribution_description: English: A fatally wounded 16 years-old Israeli school boy; he was injured when a Russian-made, laser-guided Kornet anti-tank missile fired by w:hamas hit a school bus he was riding in; the boy died 10 days later.
context_page_description: The Shaar HaNegev school bus attack was a missile attack on 7 April 2011, in which Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired a Kornet laser-guided anti-tank missile over the border at an Israeli school bus, killing a schoolboy.
  Hamas claimed the bus was traveling on a road used by Israeli military vehicles and it did not know that schoolchildren were on board. Israel said the yellow color of the bus made it easily identifiable and accused Hamas of "crossing a line."
  The missile hit the bus after all but one of the children had been dropped off. The only remaining passenger, a 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. Another mortar barrage was timed to coincide with the arrival of the paramedics, which delayed the evacuation.
  The attack was condemned by the international community.
context_section_description: On 7 April 2011 a bright yellow school bus belonging to the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council was dropping off students near their homes when a Hamas missile hit the rear of the bus. The bus was 50 metres past its stop at  Kibbutz Sa'ad. All the children had been dropped off apart from Daniel Viflic, a 16-year-old yeshiva student from Beit Shemesh. He was critically injured by shrapnel which penetrated his brain. Viflic also suffered shrapnel wounds to head, neck and body, and massive blood loss. He temporarily stopped breathing, which prevented oxygen from reaching his brain. Viflic had been on the bus with driver Zion Yemini, a family friend. He had hitched a ride to visit his grandmother who lives in the western Negev. The driver was lightly injured in the leg, and was able to pull the bus over to the side of the road, where he carried Viflic out of the vehicle.
  Paramedics arrived quickly and began resuscitating Viflic. Hamas militants launched a mortar barrage timed to coincide with the arrival of paramedics, and medics attending to Viflic had to work under heavy mortar fire. Mortar fire delayed Viflic's evacuation. He was airlifted in critical condition to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where he was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit. Shortly afterward, his brain stopped functioning. Following an initial brain scan, doctors concluded that he had sustained a permanent brain injury. Doctors tried every treatment for cases of severe head trauma such as medication, special respiratory therapy, and attempts to lower his body temperature. Viflic remained in a coma on life support, showing no evidence of any brain activity. His condition was upgraded to extremely critical on 12 April. Viflic died on 17 April, ten days after the attack, as a result of a severe brain injury.
  Because the Russian-made Kornet is an accurate, laser-guided weapon, it appeared that the bus was intentionally targeted. The attackers were never apprehended.
caption: Viflic being resuscitated by paramedics
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