A bomb exploded on a bus in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday, wounding 15 people in what Israeli officials said was a terrorist attack that could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Celebratory gunfire rang out across Gaza as the news spread and the territory’s Islamist rulers Hamas praised the bombing, but no one claimed immediate responsibility.
The blast shattered windows on the bus as it drove along a tree-lined street next to Israel’s huge defense ministry headquarters. Israel’s ambulance service said four people suffered moderate-to-severe injuries and 11 were lightly hurt.
Police said it was not a suicide attack and suggested that someone might have left the device on the number 142 bus.
The driver, who escaped largely unscathed, told reporters he had not seen anyone suspicious get on board.
“I felt the explosion … Smoke was everywhere, you couldn’t see a thing,” he said. The blue and white vehicle was not torn apart by the blast, indicating it was a relatively small device.
The bombing happened on the eighth day of an Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip and coincided with intensive diplomatic efforts to secure a lasting truce.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri hailed the explosion.
“Hamas blesses the attack in Tel Aviv and sees it as a natural response to the Israeli massacres…in Gaza,” he told Reuters. “Palestinian factions will resort to all means in order to protect our Palestinian civilians in the absence of a world effort to stop the Israeli aggression.”
Sweet cakes were handed out in celebration in Gaza’s main hospital, which has been inundated with wounded from the round-the-clock Israeli bombing and shelling.
“GATES OF HELL”
“You opened the gates of hell on yourselves,” Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam brigades, said on Twitter. “Oh Zionists, you have to drag yourselves out of hell, go back home now, go back to Germany, Poland, Russia, America and anywhere else.”
The last time a bomb blast hit Israel’s commercial capital was in April 2006, when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 11 people at a sandwich stand near the old central bus station.
Hamas militants have fired at least four rockets at the laid-back Mediterranean metropolis over the past week, but they scored no direct hits and caused no casualties.
Israel launched its air offensive with the stated aim of halting all missile launches out of the Gaza Strip, which lies some 70 km (40 miles) south of Tel Aviv, a cosmopolitan city renowned for its nightlife and vibrant beach culture.
Hamas had warned when the latest conflict flared that it would not confine itself to unleashing rockets.
“This was a terror attack. There is a massive preparedness within the police and security forces. We must keep awareness to a maximum. These are not normal times,” said Israel’s Police Chief Yohanan Danino.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon denounced the attack, saying nothing justified the targeting of civilians.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, also condemned the bus bombing. “These attacks against innocent Israeli civilians are outrageous,” the White House said.
More than 140 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, have died so far in Israel’s Gaza offensive. Five Israelis, including one soldier, have also been killed.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, trying to calm tensions over Gaza, flew from Israel to Cairo to meet Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, who is spearheading ceasefire negotiations.
(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller, Ari Rabinovitch and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
This is where the third and final world war will start. My God is better than your God, and if you say otherwise, I will kill you.
Can’t reason with fanatics. And round and round they go…
Wolves and Coyotes keep deer herds thinned out. Extremists and fanatics keep the human herd thinned out.
“More than 140 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, have died so far in Israel’s Gaza offensive.”
And how many rockets have been fired into Israel?
Cnn says one thing, other networks say another. We can only guess , thanks to biased news. And we can pray the fighting ends.
CNN and “Other networks” all say that at least Hundreds of rockets have been throw at Israel these last few day’s. Thousands in the recent past. That is all that is important.
A lot, I agree let Israel handle this..
Barbarians dragging bodies behind motorcycles are beloved in The Old Port,typical
Israel has shown tremendous restraint while being the recipient of 100’s of rockets from Hamas. The statement about going back to Germany, Poland,etc. is very offensive and I’m not even Jewish. Israel has every right to respond forcefully and put an end to this rocket lobbing! If Iran gets into it, it would be a good opportunity to take out their nuclear facilities.
Of course it is offensive. When will these third world mental midgets ever get along? 80% of the world’s problems stem from these fanatical imbeciles.
This article is very slanted against the Palestinians, so much that it is nothing but propaganda. Only at the bottom is a hint of the true complexity added:
“More than 140 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, have died
so far in Israel’s Gaza offensive. Five Israelis, including one soldier,
have also been killed.”
Where are the articles when Palestinian children are killed? Don’t you think the Israelis gloat too? There’s hatred and anger on both sides.
Here is the hatred of the Israelis, calling for Gaza to be “flattened”:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/11/2012112074217911593.html
What do you expect to happen when Hamas places their weapons and missiles among populated areas? Its a cowardly move. They are essentially are doing this to themselves as its no secret that Israel will retaliate when attacked–and then they try to look like the innocent ones when the retaliations hit high populated areas. Both sides are pretty despicable, but the Palestinians are not innocent in any of this.
Both sides hate one another and probably will forever. Religion has caused more wars and killed more innocent people than anything, ever. Its a shame that something supposedly so peaceful, religion, has innocent people killed every day because my book is different than your book–events that supposedly happened thousands of years ago and we are still fighting over it like savages.
are you serious? The reason that so few Israelis have been killed is because they have been forced to develop a very expensive shield against the 100’s of missles that are routinely fired at them. They have been remarkably patient in not responding sooner. Can you imagine how we would respond if somebody fired even 1 missle at the US?
It just isn’t that simple. Both sides fuel the animosity, and Israel definitely isn’t innocent. Not at all.
Watching the news at night most of the footage has been of the Palestinians. Maybe Hamas should stop setting up shop in with the civilians. Hamas are using the children as shield and when that fails they point to the dead. Hamas doesn’t care about their own people.
First thought at seeing this article is they are Barbaric, Hamas. Then to read they are celebrating the bombing of a bus in Israel. They are eating cake! Israel has been far too patient. But we are not seeing much of what is happening as a result of Israel’s attacks. Best to Pray for Peace and Fair and Factual reporting.
If it was rockets and mortars fired from Canada into Maine, would people here be calling for any “restraint”?
The reporting on this issue is so slanted. Both sides are misbehaving — both. And yet no matter what, we support Israel. It’s almost entirely our tax dollars paying for those bombs and those planes they use. We support all their decisions and stand by them regardless of whether they’re in the wrong.
I don’t think there will ever be peace there if our positions (as the US) aren’t based in principle — that principle can’t be that Israel is always right either.
Sounds great. Problem is, this time Israel is right.
It really depends on the source. Some are sympathetic to one or the other. Some are neutral as they should be. I don’t mind condemning this side or the other for their actions (as you say, both sides are pretty despicable in their own way), though the mentality that so and so is always right and so and so is always wrong (no matter what!) is worrisome.
The celebration of the killing of Palestinian children or declarations that they “deserved it” is no better than Hamas celebrating a bombing. No difference. It’s repulsive.
Absolutism destroys objectivity and any chance at real resolution. It’s no surprise that the leadership on both sides, for the most part exhibit the black and white worldview. The average citizens, who for the most part just want to live their lives, are caught in the middle, and they pay the price for their leaders policies. :