Hamas, Islamic Jihad claim failed Tel Aviv suicide bombing

The “military” wings of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups accepted responsibility on Monday afternoon for a failed suicide bombing attack in south Tel Aviv the previous night.

In a statement, Hamas vowed to continue to carry out suicide attacks “as long as Israel continues its massacre and policy of assassinations in Gaza.”

The Israel Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) earlier on Monday determined that the incident was an attempted terrorist attack.

The bomber, who was killed in the blast, was a Palestinian from the area of Nablus (Shechem) in central Samaria. An accomplice is believed to have transported him to Tel Aviv.

“It can be said that this was a terror attack, with the detonation of a powerful explosive device,” the police and Shin Bet said in a joint statement following a situation assessment led by the commander of the Tel Aviv Police District, who ordered increased alertness in the Dan region.

The blast occurred on Lehi Road around 8 p.m. A 43-year-old passerby on an electric scooter was moderately wounded.

Paramedics pronounced the bomber dead at the scene and the wounded man was taken to the hospital.

Dr. Eyal Hashavia, head of trauma surgery at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital), said on Monday that the injured man suffered from a shrapnel wound, described as a penetrating chest injury, and will be operated on soon to remove the fragment. He emphasized that the victim’s life was not in danger and that he was very lucky it wasn’t worse.

According to estimates the bomb weighed less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds). The security establishment is very concerned about copycat attacks.

Extensive searches by security forces were underway across the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

“Citizens are urged to be vigilant and notify the police at the 100 hotline,” the statement said.

A local police commander said earlier Monday that it is “99%" certain that the explosion was a failed terrorist attack, calling it a “miracle” that it had not resulted in mass casualties.

Ayalon District Police Commander Haim Bublil told Kan News Radio that “it is possible that the assailant planned to reach the nearby synagogue or perhaps the shopping center. We have no ability to understand why [the bomb] exploded at this point in time.”

“The scene here speaks for itself, it is a powerful charge that could have caused significant damage. We are in a kind of miracle that the incident did not end in dozens of deaths,” said Bublil.

Police spokesman Eli Levy also confirmed to Kan News that there is a high probably the incident was an attempted terrorist attack.

“A great miracle happened here. It’s a very serious incident that was investigated by the police and the ISA [Shin Bet],” he said.