Before setting out on Monday to blow himself up in Tel Aviv, Sami Hammad stood before a video camera with a Koran in his hand and an Islamic Jihad banner behind him saying he was to become a martyr in the Palestinian cause.
His identification with Islamic Jihad was new - but not his readiness to die. He reportedly was a Hamas member, but switched allegiance when that group, honouring its commitment to a ceasefire with Israel, refused to send him on a suicide mission. Some media said he was 16, which would have made him the youngest suicide bomber, but his family said he was 21. Hammad came from a poor family in Al-Araqa village near the West Bank city of Jenin and worked in restaurants in Jenin.
He matched the profile of Palestinian suicide bombers, being a young, single, Muslim male. More than 80 per cent are single, mostly between 18 and 23. The few women suicide bombers are an exception.