Following Ayyash 's death , four suicide bombings killed seventy-eight Israelis in February and March 1996 . The first of these took place shortly after the end of the 40-day mourning period for Ayyash and the cell that claimed responsibility called itself " Disciples of the martyr Yahya ' Ayyash " , stating it was a revenge attack for his assassination . Israeli security services who later interrogated one of the organizers of the attacks said they were carried out by a sub-group of the Qassam Brigades , and that , " the attacks were most probably a direct reaction to the assassination of ' Ayyash with no far-reaching political goal . " '' The Militant '' , an international communist newsweekly , reported that " 100,000 Palestinians ... attended the funeral " . Yasser Arafat , president of the Palestinian National Authority ( PA ) , offered his condolences to Hamas leaders . In a speech soon after the death , Arafat praised Ayyash as a martyr and blamed Israel for his assassination
first of these
Jaffa Road bus bombings
Yahya Ayyash