On this day: Rachel Levy killed

Just days after 25 people were killed as they sat down for seder in the Park Hotel in Netanya, a 17-year-old Israeli girl went on a routine trip to the supermarket. Her visit to the Kiryat Yovel neighbourhood of Jerusalem that Friday afternoon coincided with that of another teenage girl, one named Ayat al-Akhras.

Al-Akhras was one of two Palestinian suicide bombers to strike that day and is thought to be the youngest ever. When she detonated the explosives hidden on a belt around her waist, she ended the lives of Levy and Haim Smadar, a 55-year-old security guard. Twenty-eight others were injured.

Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades later claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack. Levy’s death captured international attention, not least because of the similar ages of the killer and victim.

In the wake of the atrocity President George W Bush said: “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.”