A tragedy was prevented Sunday in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, when a bomb exploded in a bus in the city, shortly after the passengers were evacuated after it was spotted.
The police said that initial evidence pointed to an attempted terrorist attack, presumably by Palestinians, the first of this kind in just over a year.
The driver of the bus explained that passengers had noticed a bag that had been left on a seat in the back of the bus. When nobody claimed it, one of the passengers looked inside and saw wires, the driver told the Israeli press, adding that he then immediately told the passengers to leave the bus.
About 10 minutes later, he said, there was an explosion. A police officer on the bomb squad at the scene had his hearing affected by the blast, according to Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman. There were no other injuries.
It was the first terrorist bombing in Israel since the explosion in a Tel Aviv bus in November 2012 during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The bus attack left dozens of people wounded, including three seriously.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad “welcomed” Sunday’s terror attack, but did not claim responsibility for the bombing, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.
In a statement issued by Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, the Islamist group in Gaza welcomed the attack, that was a “response to the crimes of the occupation.”
An Islamic Jihad source said he hoped this attack “could usher the resumption of suicide attacks.”
The Israeli police ordered an increase in police presence in public places across the countr and called for public to increase awareness and notify the police of any suspicious packages.
“The incident in Bat Yam shows the threat of terror is always in the background, and in particular, in times like now, when there is an attempt to advance the peace process,” the head of Israel’s Police Yohanan Danino.