17 Israelis Wounded in Blast on Tel Aviv Bus
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
A bomb blast ripped through the front of a crowded commuter bus as it passed the Israeli defense ministry in Tel Aviv during rush hour on Wednesday, injuring 17 people.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had been hit by a "terrorist attack," with Washington calling it "outrageous" and Russia branding it as "criminal".
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Scenes of panic instantly filled the heart of Israel's commercial capital as medics treated shell-shocked victims while the stricken bus stood in the middle of the street, its windshield shattered by the blast.
"I panicked. I am speechless. This is scary," a 22-year-old waitress called Sigalit told Agence France Presse.
"I am angry. It must stop," said Ilan Klein, a reporter with the Israel HaYom newspaper who lives close to the blast site.
"When it happens downstairs from your apartment, it really makes you think."
The blast struck as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was holding talks with Netanyahu in Jerusalem over ways to end a deadly spike in bloodshed in and around Gaza during the past week.
A spokesman for Israel's Magen David Adom emergency services said that of the 17 injured, one person was in moderate to serious condition while three others were in moderate condition.
The blast struck close to the sprawling defense ministry complex, the Kiriya.
The shell of the white city bus -- its windows blown out and blue seats mangled in scenes reminiscent of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada -- quickly became the site of a criminal investigation as bomb experts examined its remains.
Huge crowds gathered nearby, many expressing disbelief that after being targeted by rockets fired from Gaza in recent days, this carefree city had now been hit by a bus bombing.
"The threat exists," Israel police chief Yohanan Danino said in a statement. "There are further threats, and we need to keep our alertness at maximum level in these sensitive days," he said.
But in Gaza, there were signs of celebration as Israel's aerial bombing campaign against rocket-firing militants in the enclave entered its eighth successive day, which has so far claimed 147 Palestinian lives, while the rocket fire has killed five Israelis.
"God is great, God is great. An operation in the heart of the Zionist entity," a Gaza City mosque announced through loudspeakers as celebratory gunfire crackled through the city.
And Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa television welcomed the news, saying it was "a natural reply to to the massacre of the Dallu family and the targeting of Palestinian civilians" -- a reference to nine members of a family killed Sunday in an air strike.
The last time Tel Aviv was hit by a bus bombing was in April 2006.
Last year, an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem ripped through a bus, killing a British tourist and wounding 30 others.
21 November 2012, 13:52
93
they had concluded a ceasefire that was brokered by Egypt... guess now we are going to see more dead Palestinians in a possible ground campaign.. and yeah if the ceasefire was declared and then the bomb went off i am blaming Hamas for the dead .. just like i blame HA for the dead in 2006...
21 November 2012, 14:03
81
ya mouaten,yes it's hamas shou ayb????it's war between the sionist entity occupying palestine and the palestinians,on all fronts,nobody can enjoy for ever stolen land!!!!!!!!!!!palestinians are till now very nice with the sionists,for not opening the international front, especially countries helping the sionists in occupying palestine...from sea to river.
21 November 2012, 14:20
43
Look at these crazies celebrating that innocent ppl are Delibrately targeted ... http://m.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Nov-21/195806-palestinian-refugees-in-lebanon-celebrate-tel-aviv-attack.ashx
21 November 2012, 14:28
52
MTV: Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the Tel Aviv bus bombing.
21 November 2012, 14:42
54
Very smart move. Now they will invade gaza and kill some more of you.
21 November 2012, 14:45
54
looking at the above comments of m8, one can only laugh :)
- yes it is al aqsa brigades who did it.
- yes it is iran who confirmed supplying the rockets and money to hamas.
for me oit seems iran/hizbushaitan are praying for this war to extend as much as possible!
21 November 2012, 15:03
52
I see that too. That why when one Lebanese faction gets too strong, I feel the real neutral of Lebanon jump to the other side for the sake of Lebanon.
Meaning... People are leaning towards March14 to keep Hezbollah out of the war and think of Lebanon.
★ From Israel to Gaza, From Syria's Civil War to Jordan's Unrest ✿ The Fools of LEBANON Rise and say... ☞ ow.ly/flXr5
21 November 2012, 15:00
64
Great. Now both sides shift into second gear.
Pray to God Nasrallah and his puppetmasters don't slip down this steep slope and join their Hamas proxies in a full out war
21 November 2012, 16:48
23
Absolument. Ces gens entassés sur quelques km carrés sans aucune perspective d'avenir ne sont que bombes à retardement pour l'état sioniste tout comme les palestiniens abandonnés dans nos camps risquent de coûter cher aux libanais, tôt ou tard.
21 November 2012, 15:29
61
Mowaten - if as you say Israel has been bombing hell into Gaza for the last few days, why is it that they have "managed" to kill only 130 people, most of them Hamas operatives.
If the Israeli Air Force had been going after civilians, there would by now be no high rise building left in Gaza and many thousands of casualties.
So get your facts right and admit that nearly all the targets were Hamas sites, whereas Hamas have been shooting at Israeli civilians, including one Israeli Arab.
21 November 2012, 16:45
14
phillipo
come on! we all know the result of Israeli bombs: destruction, kids dead, people dead, thousands injured....
come on, let us not forget they are our enemy as much as the Syrian regime is, as well as the Iranian regime is.
21 November 2012, 17:47
11
no mowaten, these are our enemies and if you were Lebanese, you would see it this way.
21 November 2012, 23:18
00
Hate for Iran is not justified by anything logical? Haha, good one momo.
Hezbollah has been indicted, based on evidence, for the killing of Rafik Hariri. Evidence also links them to the killing of Hawi, and attempts on Hamadeh and Chidiac.
Wissam Eid was killed by similar means, after finding evidence of Hezbollah links to murder of Hariri.
Hezbollah is a subsidiary of the Iranian Quds Force. They could not possibly kill Hariri (and others) without the orders coming from Iran.
That is why Iran is the biggest enemy to Lebanon.
The killing of politicians and journalists under the orders from a foreign power is an act of war.
You are either ignorant, or in denial, or are a paid propagandist.
21 November 2012, 16:53
12
According to France24 half of the victims were hamas or Islamic jihad operatives. The other half are innocent civilians.
Instead of keeping (understand containing) )those Gazawies in open air cages, they might as well kill them to spare them further suffering. The Gazawies have no future.... They are exactly in the same position the israelites were in Masada.
21 November 2012, 17:01
30
"They are exactly in the same position the israelites were in Masada."
No one is stopping them committing suicide. However I'm sure that if that happened Hamas would claim that Israel had killed them.
"According to France24 half of the victims were hamas or Islamic jihad operatives"
So where are the "dozens of children and babies killed" that mowaten claims?
21 November 2012, 17:08
13
Suicide is forbidden by Islam. It's going to have to be Israel pressing the trigger.
Half of the victims are innocent civilians. That's 60-70 souls.... When was the last time Palestinians or 'Arabs' killed that many israelis in so few days?
21 November 2012, 15:55
00
mowaten: How many Lebanese Christians did the palestinian, supposedly guests, kill? If you want to liberate Isreal, go do it from another arab country, and leave Lebanon alone.
21 November 2012, 15:56
23
I wouldn't use the same agressive language as mouwaten but it is defnitely naive and silly to blame hamas for 'breaking a cease fire' hahahah! Are you seriously that naive???
There can be 1000000s of reasons to blame them and I would support you on many of them but using the argument of 'ohhh there was an agreement to stop violence and they broke it so now they deserve to die?!' mih mih mihhhhh
sorry no no no : yeuh yeuh yeuh ;)
21 November 2012, 16:18
11
of course it cant be hamas within israeli borders, at most it was an israeli arab who got his hands on some minor explosives. if it were were a palestinian, it would have been a suicide bomber and there would have been israelis killed... all of which is highly improbable today.
21 November 2012, 17:05
21
It is suicidal. These folks communicating their dislike for each other by hurling rockets and smart bombs at one another is a form of insanity. Israelis are paranoid and Gazans seem to do nothing but give them cause to be paranoid. Israel is armed by the US and Gaza by Iran. So a new layer of conflict - the US v. Iran played out with Palestinian and Israeli lives being sacrificed.
Surely, in the 21st Century we can figure out better ways to relate to one another than by this barbarity.
21 November 2012, 18:07
01
Israel violated HUNDREDS of UN resolutions;
Here is a brief of UN Security Council resolutions against Israel:
Resolution 106: The Palestine Question (29 Mar 1955) ‘condemns’ Israel for Gaza raid
Resolution 111: The Palestine Question (January 19, 1956) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for raid on Syria that killed fifty-six people”
Resolution 127: The Palestine Question (January 22, 1958) ” … ‘recommends’ Israel suspends its ‘no-man’s zone’ in Jerusalem”.
Resolution 162: The Palestine Question (April 11, 1961) ” … ‘urges’ Israel to comply with UN decisions”
Resolution 171: The Palestine Question (April 9, 1962) ” … determines flagrant violations’ by Israel in its attack on Syria”
Resolution 228: The Palestine Question (November 25, 1966) ” … ‘censures’ Israel for its attack onSamu in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control”
21 November 2012, 18:52
12
The cease fire had been agreed to but was not in effect. I apologize for that mistake. But I have never defended Israel and you are full of it since you say so. I have always said both Israel and Syria ( by that I mean Assad ) are the enemies of Lebanon and they have both slaughtered us. Don't judge me as anti Palestinian and pro Israeli just because I lean to m14 from both piles of trash we have in the country. You would piss yourself to know I am a Christian Lebanese married to a Muslim wife with a Palestinian mother. I have more right to be sympathetic with the Palestinians. But let's not fool ourselves and think HA would not slaughter them if they had the capabilities.
21 November 2012, 18:57
02
You don't fire a missile and expect to get ONE missile fired back. And then cry to have them stop. Killing is wrong and I condemn it from both sides. Israel is the mightier of the armies. Don't confine it to Palestine. If I was ruling a country and I had an enemy who considers me an enemy I would be ruthless too. Look at Assad. Why you don't blame him for being an Arab and killing Arabs. Isn't that worse than an outsider killing Arabs?
21 November 2012, 21:10
02
I am not denying Israel is a bully by every definition. And the aggressors but I was under the impression the ceasefire had gone into effect. Apparently it just did. I cannot argue with you over the terms as I have not read up on it yet. If the ceasefire had gone into effect and any group did this I would have blamed them that's what I meant. It's really a catch 22. I agree Israel is the aggressor but there are many other ways we can fight it besides bullets. That's what lost the Palestinians their land one Israeli-Arab war after the other.
