A high-intensity explosion ripped through southern Tel Aviv’s Lehi Road on Sunday night, leaving casualties and creating more panic among the already befuddled Israeli settlers.
The explosion came amid the uneasy anticipation of a retaliatory military operation over the assassination of top-ranking Axis of Resistance commanders in Tehran and Beirut that has paralyzed the Israeli regime and settlers in the past three weeks.
Several hours after the explosion took place, which immediately grabbed news headlines worldwide, the Israeli police and the Shin Bet military agency termed it a “suicide bombing.”
In a statement on Monday morning, police and Shin Bet said the explosion resulted from the “detonation of a powerful explosive device.”
Some Hebrew media then claimed the attack was carried out by a Palestinian man from the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, without providing further details.
After the Israeli police statement, Palestinian resistance groups came out with a statement, claiming responsibility for it and putting speculation to rest.
Al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades, the military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) respectively, issued a joint statement, saying the “martyrdom operation” was carried out by them.