Hamas suicide bombing ends ceasefire

Palestinian terror group Hamas ended its six week ceasefire today, claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing at a West Bank Jewish settlement that killed an Israeli.

Izzedine al Qassam, the Hamas military wing, said on its website that the attack in Ariel was carried out by a 21-year-old to avenge what it called Israel’s “assassination” of two Hamas members last Friday in the West Bank town of Nablus.

It was the group’s first open violation of the June 29 truce.

The bombing at the settlement came less than an hour after another suicide bombing outside a supermarket near Tel Aviv, which also killed one Israeli.

There was no claim of responsibility for that attack.

Hamas had hinted that it was reconsidering its position on the ceasefire last week after two of its top bomb makers were killed during an Israeli military raid on a refugee camp near Nablus.

Today’s Hamas statement said the Ariel bombing was carried out in response to what it said were Israeli violations of the truce.

The dead Israeli was identified as an 18-year-old army recruit. One witness said settlers shot the bomber as he approached a bus stop outside Ariel. But he staggered on and detonated his explosives.

At least one Israeli was killed along with the bomber in the other attack outside the supermarket in Rosh Haayin. Nine people were wounded – one seriously, five moderately and three lightly.

The blast sparked a large fire in the shop, and rescuers in breathing equipment dragged casualties out of the shattered store.

“I saw fire and a cloud of smoke. They brought out an injured child and then his mother,” said Avigail Josef, who sells lottery tickets from a booth just feet from the site of the explosion.

“We heard an explosion and I ran downstairs and saw smoke,” said another witness, Roni. “I saw the bomber ... only the upper part of him was intact, he was missing legs and arms. I saw a leg lying nearby.”

Acting regional police chief Uri Bar Lev said his officers had been on high alert after warnings of an attack in the area.

Rosh Haayin is only yards from the line separating Israel and the West Bank.

The two attacks shattered a summer of relative calm since the main Palestinian militant groups declared their ceasefire at the end of June.

The last suicide attack in Israel was on July 7, when a bomber blew himself up in a house in the centre of the country, killing an elderly women.

Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner condemned the “murderous attack” in Rosh Haayin, and said he held the Palestinian leadership responsible.

“This is the result of the inaction on the part of the Palestinian Authority,” he said. “They have not dismantled terrorist organisations.”

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said the attacks showed the need to complete a security barrier between Israel and the West Bank.

Israel says it needs the fence to stop attackers entering Israel, but it has been condemned by the Palestinians and criticised by the United States.

Peled said the first stage of the fence to be completed stopped just short of the site of the Rosh Haayin attack.

“Where the fence ends, terrorists enter,” he said.