Police, Shin Bet said to believe Iran, Hezbollah may be behind failed Tel Aviv attack
Hamas said it and PIJ ordered the blast, but authorities are reportedly unsure given sophistication of ultimately faulty bomb carried by Nablus resident with no known terror ties
Security forces are investigating the possibility that Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah are linked to Sunday’s attempted suicide bombing by a Palestinian man in Tel Aviv, Hebrew media reported Monday.
Hamas earlier on Monday claimed responsibility for the attack, which it had directed together with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, though the attacker was not known to be affiliated with either.
However, police and the Shin Bet security service believe the attacker, a resident of Nablus in the West Bank, may have gotten directions from Iran or Hezbollah, given the sophistication of his ultimately faulty explosive, according to Channel 12 news and the Kan public broadcaster.
Though there were no current concrete warnings of a terror attack, police said it was beefing up its presence in large cities following what would have been the first suicide bombing in Israel since 2016.
“If the terrorist had entered [a nearby] synagogue, this could have been a horrible tragedy,” Tel Aviv district police chief Peretz Amar said at a press conference Monday evening.
The explosive device, which “was likely built in the West Bank,” was “big and significant and if it hadn’t blown up outside, it would have wounded many people,” said Amar.
According to Channel 12, the terrorist walked about a kilometer (0.6 miles) in south Tel Aviv before the 8-kilogram (17-pound) explosive in his backpack went off in an uncrowded area, killing him and injuring another person.
Channel 12 said Shin Bet and police investigators were still unsure how long the West Bank resident had been in Tel Aviv, and who had sent him. However, detectives have a “significant lead” in the investigation, the network said, adding that the military censor precluded more information from being published at this time.
Kan said that following the attempted suicide bombing, security services are weary of copycat attacks.
Police were initially unsure that the Sunday night explosion in Tel Aviv was the result of an attempted terror attack, and had difficulty ascertaining the identity of the dead man, of whom “nothing remained,” Amar said. He added that a speedy lab check found the deceased to have been from the West Bank, at which point police concluded that the explosion had been intended as a terror attack.
Separately, Channel 12 said the National Security Council briefed several current and former Israeli officials on possible threats against them from Iran and Hezbollah.
BREAKING: Hamas and Islamic Jihad claim joint responsibility for deadly Tel Aviv explosion, confirming their involvement in the attack. Situation intensifying, with potential for further escalation in the region. pic.twitter.com/GDfEiZBGmC
— Facts Prime (@factsprime35) August 19, 2024
The Lebanese terror group has threatened all-out war against Israel in response to the July 30 killing of Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in the terror group’s south Beirut stronghold. Iran, meanwhile, has vowed to exact “harsh punishment” on Israel for the assassination in Tehran of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its role in the explosion that killed Haniyeh, which came hours after the airstrike that killed Shukr.
