Tel Aviv blast death toll up to eight

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 today, killing himself and eight people and wounding 49 in the deadliest Palestinian attack in more than a year.

The bombing appeared to set the stage for a showdown between Israel and the Palestinians’ new Hamas rulers, who called the attack a legitimate response to Israeli “aggression".

Israel said it held Hamas ultimately responsible, even though a different militant group, Islamic Jihad, said it carried out the bombing.

Israeli defence chiefs were to hold consultations later today, but security officials said a possible reoccupation of Gaza, the base of the new Hamas government, was not being considered.

The blast went off outside the packed The Mayor’s Felafel restaurant in Tel Aviv’s Neve Shaanan district.

The restaurant had also been targeted in a January bombing.

A security guard posted outside the restaurant prevented the bomber from entering the building, police said. Witnesses said the blast went off when the guard was checking the bomber’s bag.

A witness, Israel Yaakov, said the blast killed a woman standing near her husband and children, who were lightly wounded.

“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.”

It was the first suicide bombing in Israel since Hamas took over the Palestinian government nearly three weeks ago – and came shortly ahead of a swearing in ceremony in Jerusalem for the new Israeli parliament.

Islamic Jihad, in a phone call to The Associated Press, claimed responsibility for the bombing. The group identified the bomber as Sami Salim Mohammed Hammed, from the West Bank town of Jenin.

Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in recent years, has largely observed a truce with Israel for more than a year. Yet in a sharp departure from the previous Palestinian leadership’s immediate condemnations of such attacks, Hamas leaders defended the bombing.

“We think that this operation … is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people,” said Khaled Abu Helal, spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry.

Earlier, Moussa abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader abroad, told Al-Jazeera television that “the Israeli side must feel what the Palestinian feels, and the Palestinian defends himself as much as he can.”

The moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah party, condemned the bombing, calling it a “terrorist attack".

Abbas is currently involved in a heated power struggle with Hamas, which won Palestinian parliamentary elections on January 25.

The bombing was the first major security challenge for Israeli Prime Minister designate Ehud Olmert since he won March 28 elections, taking over from the ailing Ariel Sharon.

It came just two hours before Israel’s new parliament was sworn in.

Speaking at a faction meeting of his Kadima Party at the Israeli parliament, Olmert said Israel would react to the bombing with appropriate means.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir said Israel held Hamas ultimately responsible for such attacks because it is “giving support to all the other terrorist organisations".

“From our point of view it doesn’t matter if it comes from Al Aqsa, Islamic Jihad or Hamas. They all come out of the same school of terrorism led by Hamas,” he said.

Despite its observance of a truce, Hamas has refused to condemn attacks against Israelis. Islamic Jihad, which has close links to Israel’s archenemy Iran, has claimed responsibility for all six of the previous suicide attacks inside Israel since the ceasefire was declared.

It was the second major Passover bombing in four years. In 2002, a Palestinian bomber blew himself up at a hotel in the coastal town of Netanya, killing 29 people. That attack triggered a major Israeli military offensive.

Police said the restaurant had hired a security guard after the January bombing. It wasn’t immediately clear if the guard was killed.

A witness, Moussa al Zidat, said the guard at the falafel restaurant asked the apparent bomber the 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.”

Another witness, 62-year-old Sonya Levy, said she had just finished shopping when the blast went off.

“I was about to get into my car, and boom, there was an explosion. A bit of human flesh landed on my car and I started to scream,” she said. Her car was 50 metres from the explosion and its windshield was smeared with blood.

Medics said nine of the injured were in serious condition, 12 were hurt moderately and the rest suffered minor wounds.

The wounded were treated on sidewalks. One man was lying on his side, his shirt pushed up and his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a stretcher. A dazed-looking man walked near the site, his white T-shirt splattered with blood.

The blast shattered the windscreens of cars, and blew out the windows of nearby buildings. Glass shards and blood splattered the ground. The sign of the restaurant’s building was blown away. Bottles and other debris were scattered up to 25 metres from the site of the blast.

While rescue crews tended to the wounded, a helicopter hovered overhead and a two marksmen took up positions on the roof of the targeted building. Teams sifted through debris looking for evidence and body parts.

Police searched for a vehicle that left the scene shortly before the blast.

Later, police stopped a car with three suspected Palestinian accomplices in the West Bank. The bomb squad examined the car, police said.

Yesterday, the exiled leader of Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shallah, said the militant group was making “non-stop efforts” to infiltrate suicide bombers from the West Bank into Israel.

“The non-stop crackdown against our resistance might limit this effort, but it’s not going to stop it,” he said in a statement posted on the group’s website.

Shallah made his comments while attending an anti-Israel conference in Iran.

Palestinian militants have carried out nine suicide attacks in Israel and the West Bank since a February 8, 2005, truce declaration.

All but one attack have been carried out by Islamic Jihad.