Hamas Claims Responsibility for Tel Aviv Suicide Bombing

Recent Suicide Bombing in Tel Aviv: Claims and Reactions

On Monday, Hamas’s military wing, along with Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for a devastating suicide bombing that occurred late Sunday in Tel Aviv. They issued a statement threatening further attacks in response to what they described as the “ongoing civilian displacement and killings” of Palestinians.

The Israeli police, in conjunction with the Shin Bet security agency, confirmed the occurrence of a “powerful explosive” detonation on Lechi Road in southern Tel Aviv. However, they refrained from labeling the incident as a suicide attack. According to their report, one passerby sustained moderate injuries, and the blast was categorized as a terrorist act, with authorities currently conducting an investigation. Notably, the official statement did not indicate whether the assailant had perished in the explosion.

If this assertion is validated, it would mark the first recorded suicide bombing in Israel since approximately 2016. Israeli news outlets released security camera footage showing a man carrying a backpack in the vicinity just moments before the explosion. Reports suggest that the man was killed in the blast.

Peretz Amar, the police chief for the Tel Aviv District, addressed the media during a news conference, revealing that the attacker, who had no prior criminal history and was not known to Israeli security forces, had entered Israel from the Israeli-occupied West Bank. While he did not disclose the attacker’s identity, he indicated that the explosives were likely manufactured in the West Bank and were of relatively low quality.

Mr. Amar elaborated that the assailant had likely noticed a crowd of people congregating outside a synagogue and attempted to activate the explosives, inadvertently causing them to detonate prematurely. He emphasized that the outcome could have been significantly more catastrophic had circumstances unfolded differently.