Hebron Massacre: 29 Worshippers Killed at Cave

Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein, a physician from Brooklyn, entered the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron on February 25, 1994, during Ramadan prayers and opened fire with an IMI Galil assault rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshippers and wounding 125 before survivors beat him to death with a fire extinguisher. Goldstein was a follower of Rabbi Meir Kahane's extremist Kach movement and had repeatedly called for the expulsion of Arabs from Israel. The massacre devastated the Oslo peace process, which had been gaining momentum since the 1993 handshake between Rabin and Arafat. Hamas responded with the first suicide bombings inside Israel, launching a cycle of retaliatory violence that hardened both sides. The Israeli government divided Hebron into two zones: H1 under Palestinian Authority control and H2 under Israeli military control, an arrangement that persists today. A shrine erected at Goldstein's grave by supporters was eventually dismantled by the Israeli government.