Israeli police were on high alert Thursday morning in the Tel Aviv region, and were manning roadblocks at the entrance to the city following the double suicide attack Wednesday night in the area of the city's old central bus station in which three people were killed. The three people killed were one Israeli and two foreign workers.
This was the first suicide attack in Israel in more than a month and it further delayed high-level contacts between the Palestinians and Israelis. The attack took place between a cafe and a theater in a rundown neighborhood where many foreign workers live. Most of Tel Aviv Wednesday night was shut down for Tisha B'Av, a holiday marking the destruction of the ancient Jewish Temples. This was one of the few areas crowded with people.
Police said the bombers were wearing belts each carrying five kilograms of explosive and shrapnel, adding a note was found on one of the bombers' bodies.
Both Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Following the bombing, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer ordered a freeze on measures to ease conditions for Palestinians, a statement from his office said.
"Israel is striving to ease the conditions as much as possible for the broader Palestinian population but the Palestinian terror is continuing to perpetuate the suffering (of the population)," the statement said.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian activist who was seriously injured during clashes with Israeli soldiers in Silat ad-Dahar died Thursday of his wounds, the mayor of the West Bank village said.
Amer Hantuli, a 23-year-old member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was injured Wednesday and captured by the Israeli army, together with three other Palestinians, Ragheb Abu Diyak said.
Bashar Hantuli, 19, a member of the same group, was also killed during the incursion into the autonomous village, south of Jenin in the northern West Bank. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
