A senior Hamas leader has told Newsweek that there was no proof linking the group to the series of bus bombings that targeted Israel hours after the group handed over four bodies purported to be those of slain Israeli hostages as part of their ceasefire agreement.
Israeli security officials said late Thursday that explosions tore through at least three buses on parking lot in the central Israeli city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. No injuries were reported, but transportation nationwide was shut down as Israeli authorities descended on the scene, discovering what police said were three burned-out explosive devices as well as two additional undetonated devices all identical and equipped with timers.
As the search for suspects and further potential bombs was underway, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement shared with Newsweek that it was also investigating the incident in conjunction with the Israel Police and Israeli Security Agency, also known as Shin Bet. Israeli Defense Israel Katz has blamed the attack on “Palestinian terrorist organizations,” without specifying any particular group.
Israeli media, citing security sources, reported that at least one of the devices bore the phrase “Revenge from Tulkarem,” the name of a Palestinian city in the West Bank, where unrest has risen dramatically amid the 16-month war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Shortly after the blasts, a Telegram group purporting to represent the “Tulkarem Brigade” of Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades issued an ominous message, reading “the martyrs’ souls will not be forgotten as long as the occupier is present on our land…It is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.”
The senior Hamas leader pointed out to Newsweek, however, that “this statement does not clearly mention anything related to the bombings.”
The Hamas official also expressed “surprise” that the potential responsibility of the group was being discussed “without any evidence of that.” The Hamas official alleged that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s own government may have had a role in the operation as means of “escaping their obligations in the ceasefire agreement and creating an external enemy to relieve the increasing internal pressure.”
Newsweek has reached out to the IDF for additional comment.
Why It Matters
The blasts mark one of the most high-profile security incidents to strike in Israel since the country signed a temporary truce with Hamas that entered into effect on January 19. Both sides of accused one another of violating the terms of the ceasefire, but large-scale fighting has yet to resume, and the exchange of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel has continued.
The latest handover took place earlier Thursday as Hamas fighters transferred what was initially believed to be the bodies of 9-month-old Kfir Babas, his 4-year-old brother, Ariel, their mother, Shiri, and 83-old Oded Lifschitz, all Israelis taken captive by the group during its October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war.
Later that same day, however, after the bus explosions, the IDF stated that forensics analysis had identified only two of the bodies, 9-month-old Kfir Bibas and his 4-year-old brother Ariel. The IDF said that Shiri was not among the remains received “and no match was found for any other hostage.”
“This is an anonymous, unidentified body,” the IDF said. “This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is obligated under the agreement to return four deceased hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.”
The IDF additionally stated that the two identified hostages “were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023.” Hamas has said they were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
What to Know
Hamas has a history of targeting Israeli buses with explosives, particularly in the 1990s and early 2000s. Israeli officials have attributed this tactic to Mohammed Deif, longtime leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades who was killed in an Israeli raid in Gaza last July.
A number of other Palestinian groups have also participated in the war, and, like Hamas, some are known to have a presence in the West Bank, referred to by Israeli officials as Judea and Samaria, where Israel has recently stepped up raids against suspected militants. Independent factions in the West Bank have also taken up arms and targeted Israeli soldiers and civilians both before and during the conflict in Gaza.
What People Are Saying
The IDF in a statement shared with Newsweek on Thursday: “Following a situational assessment, the IDF’s counterterrorism operation in Judea and Samaria continues and will be directed according to intelligence findings. the IDF has closed off the entry of certain areas in Judea and Samaria. At the end of the situational assessment, the Chief of the General Staff, LTG. Herzi Halevi, instructed to assist the Israel Police as necessary and to strengthen activity in the area of the buffer zone.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement published to X on Thursday: “Following the attempt to perpetrate a chain of mass bus bombings, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just completed a security assessment with the Defense Minister, the IDF Chief-of-Staff, the ISA Director and the Israel Police Inspector General.”
“The Prime Minister has ordered the IDF to carry out an intensive operation against centers of terrorism in Judea and Samaria. The Prime Minister also ordered the Israel Police and the ISA to increase preventative activity against additional attacks in Israeli cities.”
What Happens Next
The IDF has already accelerated operations in the West Bank in the wake of the ceasefire in Gaza and appears poised to pursue an even larger-scale series of raids in response to the alleged connection between Palestinian groups there and the bus bombings.
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