Suicide bomber kills nine in Tel Aviv attack

A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up at a fast food restaurant in a bustling commercial area of Tel Aviv during the Jewish holiday of Passover yesterday, killing himself and nine people and wounding dozens in the deadliest Palestinian attack in more than a year.

In a sharp departure from the previous Palestinian government’s condemnations of bombings, the Hamas-led administration said the attack resulted from Israel’s “brutal aggression”.

The blast came amid a sharp increase in fighting between Israel and the Palestinians across the Gaza border. Militants have fired barrages of homemade rockets at Israel, and Israel has responded with artillery fire. A 17-year-old Palestinian in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya was reported killed yesterday in the shelling,

The bomber struck at about 1.40pm local time (11.40am Irish time) at The Mayor’s Falafel restaurant. The restaurant, in the bustling Neve Shaanan neighbourhood near the central bus station, was targeted in a January 19 attack that wounded 20 people.

Police said the restaurant hired a security guard after the earlier bombing, and that guard was apparently injured in the blast.

Witness Moussa al Zidat said the guard asked the bomber to open his bag. “I saw a young man starting to open his bag. The guard begins opening the bag, and then I heard a boom.”

The blast killed a woman standing near her husband and children, added Israel Yaakov, another witness.

“The father was traumatised. He went into shock. He ran to the children to gather them up and the children were screaming, ‘Mom! Mom!’ and she wasn’t answering, she was dead already... it’s a shocking scene,” Mr Yaakov said.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing. The group identified the bomber as Sami Hammad, 21, from the West Bank village of Arakeh, near the town of Jenin.

Hammad’s family said he had studied social work in a distance-learning programme but was forced to quit because of money problems.

In a video released by the group, Hammad said the bombing was dedicated to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, saying: “There are many other bombers on the way.”