Attack was predicted on Jewish and Arab gathering place

Bodies lay scattered on the ground, wounded people screamed, and shattered furniture was littered across the large university cafeteria.

The friendly, multinational gathering place in Jerusalem’s Hebrew University was turned into a scene of chaos and destruction.

Israeli police said Palestinian terrorists planted the bomb that detonated at lunchtime, killing seven people and wounding more than 70.

The Frank Sinatra International Student Centre was a popular hangout for Jewish and Arab students taking exams – and for many foreign visitors on summer courses.

“It was the most popular cafeteria on campus,” said Alastair Goldrein, A 19-year-old from Blundellsands, near Liverpool. “It was the place to be.”

He was on his way to eat lunch there today when a huge blast went off and the ground shook.

“Then there was this deathly silence,” said Goldrein, who is studying Hebrew. “I ran in, there were people lying around wailing, covered in blood. Scenes that are indescribable, clothes and flesh torn apart.”

Police said the bomb was placed in a bag on a table in the centre of the restaurant.

The Jerusalem emergency services were there within minutes.

A fleet of ambulances evacuated the wounded, most of them young, all of them covered in blood.

The bodies of the six who died at the scene lay in a row on a path next to the cafe, shrouded in black plastic bags. Another died later in hospital.

The interior of the cafe was gutted. Electric cables dangled from the ceiling, tables and chairs were overturned and the large plate glass windows were blown out.

The floor was carpeted with broken glass and everywhere there were puddles of blood.

A visibly shaken Goldrein said the attack, at a spot where Jews, Arabs and foreigners often relaxed together, was senseless.

“I’ll never understand why somebody would want to target somewhere like this,” he said.

“Everyone was happy together, people are eating together. There’s no guns in here, no soldiers in here, no policemen in here, just young people 19-25 years old eating their dinner.”

Benny Vered, deputy editor of the university’s student newspaper said he had predicted an attack on the cafe back in April because it is close to the campus fence, which he said was not properly guarded.

Singing legend Frank Sinatra visited Israel in 1978 for the dedication of the centre named after him.

It was funded by members of the Friends of the Hebrew University from the US west coast, many of whom are connected with the entertainment industry, and who requested that it be named after the star, who died in 1998. The complex houses the student union and related facilities.

The Hebrew University has 23,000 students, of whom about 4,600 are Arabs and 1,500 are from abroad