The youngest female suicide bomber at the time of her attack. The 2005 opening described her seeking “to join one of the militant Palestine groups”. Militant today: 0 in the opening, 2 in the body.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “militant” appeared 9 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2.
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The opening as it read in 2005
Ayat al-Akhras was a teenage female Palestinian suicide bomber who killed two people on March 29 , 2002 . She was an 18 year old young Palestinian woman living in the Dehaishe camp of the Palestine Territories. Ayat had aspirations of going to college after finishing high school and becoming a news reporter. In March of 2002 a next door neighbor of Ayat's playing with his toddler daughter was killed by a stray bullet fired by Israeli troops as they were on a counter-terrorism operation. As Ayat's brothers tried to save the life of the dying neighbor whom Ayat and her family had known since her childhood, Ayat collapsed in the street crying and hysterical. After the death of her neighbor next door Ayat was racked with grief and emotional pain but that grief soon subsided to expose rage and vengence. Ayat sought revenge by attempting to join one of the militant Palestine groups. Ayat attempted to join Hamas but was turned away by the group because of a long standing policy against allowing females to fight in physical combat. Hamas is not alone in this policy; many Islamic militant groups like that of Hezbollah and al-Qaida have a long standing rule against letting females fight. The basis for this rule lies in teachings of the Qur'an that says Jihad is the domain of the male. While there are a very limited number of Islamic militant groups that use females as fighters even then it is only under special circumstances. Chechean militant groups have occassionally used females in combat but these females were not ordinary females, they were women who had husbands, brothers and sons killed by Russian troops. On extremely special and rare occasions Hamas and the Palestine Islamic Jihad used female fighters at least on one occasion each, both as suicide bombers . Hamas used a female militant, Reem Raiyshi as a bomber as a way of cleaning away her sins after she cheated on her husband, who was a Hamas militant with another Hamas militant. The Palestine Islamic Jihad used Hanadi Jaradat , their first female bomber after a Israeli troops killed the brother and cousin of that bomber during a botched arrest. Otherwise than these few occassions Jihad has been strickly the domain of the Muslim male. The late spirtual leader of Hamas, Shiek Ahmed Yassin made a statement to the press after Ayat's bombing saying that the group would only use women after they ran out of men. After days of searching Ayat finally found a group that accepted her-the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades . The fact that the Al-Asqa Martyrs Brigade is a more secular group than Hamas and other heavily religious Palestine militant groups may be why they recruited Ayat when no one else would. The group also had experience with using at least three other woman successfully in suicide bombings against Israel before they recruited Ayat. When Ayat joined the group it was deemed by the leadership of the group that Ayat would best serve their purpose as a suicide bomber. Ayat underwent combat and suicide bomber training over a course of several weeks. Before her mission Ayat made a video in which she lashed out at the regimes and militaries of Muslim nations throughout the world. She said: "I say to the Arab leaders, stop sleeping. Stop failing to fulfill your duty. Shame on the Arab armies who are sitting and watching the girls of Palestine fight while they are asleep." On March 29 , 2002 , Ayat was driven to a supermarket in Israel by a member of the militant group and given explosives.1She detonated her explosives and killed two people: a 17 year-old Israeli girl named Rachel Levy and an elderly security guard who had attempted to stop Ayat from entering the supermarket in the first place because he deemed her to be suspicious.2After Ayat's actions many Palestine children and teens put up posters of Ayat on their walls. Little girls and pre-teen females in Palestine wanted to be like Ayat and teenage boys and young men became infatuated her. The Al-Asqa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility in the press for the attack which the Israeli government denounced as an act of terrorism .3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17767769.
The opening as it stood in 2010 30 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Ayat al-Akhras was the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber who, at age 18 (some sources report her age to be as young as 16), killed herself and two Israeli civilians on March 29, 2002 by detonating explosives belted to her body.The killings gained widespread international attention due to Ayat's age and gender and the fact that one of the victims was also a teenage girl.The killings led U.S.Bush to observe: “When an 18-year-old Palestinian girl is induced to blow herself up and in the process kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the future itself is dying; the future of the Palestinian people and the future of the Israeli people.” How Two Lives Met In Death
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 367181182.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Ayat al-Akhras was the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber who, at age 18 (some sources report her age to be as young as 16), killed herself and two Israeli civilians on March 29, 2002 by detonating explosives belted to her body. The killings gained widespread international attention due to Ayat's age and gender and the fact that one of the victims was also a teenage girl. The killings led U.S. Bush to observe: “When an 18-year-old Palestinian girl is induced to blow herself up and in the process kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the future itself is dying; the future of the Palestinian people and the future of the Israeli people.” How Two Lives Met In Death
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 657388315.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Ayat al-Akhras (February 20, 1985 – March 29, 2002) was the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber who, at age 18 (some sources report her age to be as young as 16), killed herself and two Israeli civilians on March 29, 2002 by detonating explosives belted to her body. The killings gained widespread international attention due to Ayat's age and gender and the fact that one of the victims was also a teenage girl. The killings led U.S. Bush to observe: “When an 18-year-old Palestinian girl is induced to blow herself up and in the process kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the future itself is dying; the future of the Palestinian people and the future of the Israeli people.” How Two Lives Met In Death
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 947257298.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Palestinian suicide bomber (1985–2002) Ayat al-Akhras (20 February 1985 – 29 March 2002) was the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber who, at age 18 (some sources report her age to be as young as 16), killed herself and two Israeli civilians on March 29, 2002, by detonating explosives belted to her body. The killings gained widespread international attention due to Ayat's age and gender and the fact that one of the victims was also a teenage girl. The killings led U.S.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178152918.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Palestinian suicide bomber (1985–2002) Ayat al-Akhras (20 February 1985 – 29 March 2002) was the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber who, at age 17, killed herself and two Israeli civilians on March 29, 2002, by detonating explosives belted to her body. The killings gained widespread international attention due to Ayat's age and gender and the fact that one of the victims was also a teenage girl. Akhras was born in 1985 in the Deheishe Refugee Camp near Bethlehem , the Israeli-occupied West Bank .Her parents had fled or were expelled from Arab villages near Jaffa at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War to settle in the Gaza Strip , and had moved from there to Bethlehem in the wake of the 1967 Six Day War .Her childhood experiences had likely radicalized her, leading her to join resistance organizations.During the 1987 First Intifada against the Israeli occupation , Akhras' oldest brother was jailed twice for attacking Israeli soldiers; and during the 2000 Second Intifada , members of her family were wounded and killed by the Israeli military .In 2002, a close friend and neighbor of Akhras that was playing with his toddler was hit by a stray bullet.Akhras was a straight-A student and had hopes of attending college and becoming a news reporter.In 2001 she became engaged and plans were made for a wedding in July 2002.However, on 29 March 2002, Ayat al-Akhras was driven to the Kiryat HaYovel supermarket in Jerusalem by a recently recruited Tanzim member.Akhras detonated her explosives and killed two people: a 17-year-old Israeli girl named Rachel Levy and a 55-year-old security guard named Haim Smadar who had attempted to stop Akhras from entering the supermarket.In February 2014, Israel returned the remains of Ayat to her family as part of prisoner swaps, enabling them to arrange her funeral.
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Today
“militant” appeared 9 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2. Read the current article and compare.
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Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2025.
Then
teenage female palestinian suicide bomber who killed two people on march 29
Now
third and youngest palestinian female suicide bomber who
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