At least three empty buses exploded simultaneously in two parking lots in the Bat Yam neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israeli police reported, as they investigate the incident as a possible coordinated terrorist attack.
“Preliminary report: suspected terrorist attack. Multiple reports have been received of explosions involving several buses at different locations in Bat Yam,” the police said in a statement.
Fortunately, no victims were reported. Two other buses may have exploded, but the explosive devices placed inside them failed to detonate.
Following the incident, a group identifying itself as a branch of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, from the city of Tulkarem in northern West Bank, posted on Telegram: “We will never forget to avenge our martyrs as long as the occupation remains on our land.” However, authorities have not yet attributed the attack to any specific organization.
The head of the Tel Aviv District Police, Haim Sargarof, stated that the explosives had timers and that the attack “appears to have originated in the West Bank.” He added that the bombs appear to be improvised.
According to local media, one of the undetonated devices, weighing 5 kg, carried a message reading “Revenge from Tulkarem,” referring to a recent Israeli counterterrorism operation in the West Bank.
Sargarof reported that the police have completed their searches of buses and trains and continue investigating how many suspects were involved in the attack. “We need to determine whether a single suspect placed explosives in multiple buses or if there were multiple attackers,” the police spokesman told Israeli television.
The Shin Bet (Israeli intelligence service) and the Army are leading the investigation.
Meanwhile, the Bat Yam Municipality stated that “miraculously, the buses arrived at the parking lots just moments before the explosions.”
The metro service in Bat Yam was suspended.
Shmuel Malka, a doctor with the United Hatzalah emergency service, told Kan 11 that he arrived at the parking lot after the first explosion, and just five minutes later, he heard another. Reports indicate that the first two explosions occurred 400 meters apart, while a third took place at another parking lot four kilometers away.
“I stayed at the first site. When others went to the second, they reported that a bus was in flames following another explosion. Both were extremely powerful,” Malka recounted.
The Israeli government reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is receiving regular updates from his military secretary and will soon conduct a security assessment.
Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the Army to intensify operations in the West Bank.
“In light of the serious terrorist attacks in the Tel Aviv area by Palestinian organizations, I have instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of counterterrorism operations in the Tulkarem refugee camp and in other areas of Judea and Samaria,” he said in a statement, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
“We will hunt down the terrorists to the bitter end and destroy their infrastructure in the camps they use as forward bases of the Iranian axis of evil,” added Katz.
“Residents who harbor terrorists will pay a high price,” he warned.
Israel has carried out multiple military raids against suspected Palestinian militants in the West Bank since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza. As part of this offensive, Israel has severely restricted the entry of Palestinians from the occupied territories.
Tulkarem and its refugee camps have been at the center of recent military incursions by the Israeli Army.
Since the ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza took effect on January 19, Israel has intensified its military operation in the West Bank. In the past, terrorists have managed to enter Israel and carry out shootings and attacks in various cities.
