The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) killed roughly 55 Israelis and wounded more than 150 in 1994 as part of a terror campaign to derail the peace process. HAMAS's armed wing, the Izz el-Din al-Qassam, claimed responsibility for the April bombings of buses in Afula and Hadera, which together killed 14 Israelis and wounded nearly 75. In October, al- Qassam launched three high-profile attacks on Israelis: the 9 October shooting of people on the streets of Jerusalem, which left two dead; the kidnapping of Israel Defense Force Corporal Nachshon Wachsman, which resulted in the killing of Wachsman and one other Israeli soldier; and the bombing of a commuter bus in Tel Aviv, which killed 22. HAMAS spokesmen announced that these attacks were part of the group's policy of jihad against the "Israeli occupation of all of Palestine" and retaliation for the Hebron Massacre.
Other Palestinian groups that reject the Gaza-Jericho accord and the peace process also attacked Israelis. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)ö Shiqaqi faction claimed responsibility for a suicide bomber who attacked an Israeli patrol in Gaza in November killing three Israeli soldiers. PIJ claimed at least 18 other attacks on Israelis, including a shooting on a commuter bus stop on 7 April that killed two in Ashdod, south of Tel Aviv. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for several attacks on Israeli settlers and soldiers.
Yasir Arafat, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA), tried to rein in Palestinian violence against Israel in 1994. The PA police force took some steps to curtail anti-Israeli attacks, including several mass detentions and a strong effort to find where Corporal Wachsman was detained by HAMAS. Arafat and other senior PA officials condemned acts of terrorism by HAMAS and the PIJ, but did not do so when individuals associated with the Fatah Hawks, nominally aligned with Arafat's Fatah organization, were responsible for a few attacks in early 1994. Israeli officials urged the PA to take tougher measures against terrorists.
Intra-Palestinian violence has increased since the implementation of the Gaza-Jericho accord began on 4 May. On 18 November, 13 Palestinians were killed and more than 150 wounded when Palestinian Police clashed with HAMAS and PIJ supporters who were planning to demonstrate in Gaza. This incident followed several protests by weapons-bearing Islamists in the weeks following the HAMAS kidnapping of Corporal Wachsman and the PA's mass roundup of HAMAS supporters. In 1994, Fatah Hawks and HAMAS killed at least 20 Palestinians whom the extremists labeled as collaborators.
The Israeli Cabinet outlawed the Jewish extremist groups Kach and Kahane Chai in March, declaring them to be terrorist organizations after Baruch Goldstein, who was a Kach member, attacked Palestinian worshippers at Hebron's al-Ibrahimi Mosque in February, killing 29 persons and wounding more than 200. Neither Kach nor Kahane Chai assisted or directed Goldstein in his attack, but both organizations vocally supported him. The leading figures of these groups were arrested and held in Israeli prisons on charges of calling for attacks on Palestinians and Israeli Government officials. In September, Shin Bet arrested 11 Jewish extremists who were planning terrorist attacks against Palestinians.