“We will find out who placed the bomb, we will reach those who dispatched them and we will also get to those who stand behind them, and settle the account with these terrorists”, he said.
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At least 21 people were injured in a bus blast in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, police said, confirming it was a terror attack.
Two of the wounded individuals are in serious condition.
“We are in a protracted struggle against terror – knife terror, shooting terror, bomb terror and also tunnel terror”, he added, speaking hours after Israel announced its discovery of an underground passage dug by Hamas militants from Gaza. The bombings killed hundreds of people and deterred many Israelis from riding buses altogether. The vehicle caught fire along with a second bus that was empty. “What we confirmed is that the remains of an explosive device were found on one of the buses”, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
A doctor at Ein Kerem hospital, which was treating some of the wounded, said that some of the wounds of the victims are from nails and bolts that penetrated their bodies.
Although the Hamas movement did not claim responsibility, its spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri issued a press release stating that “what happened is a natural outcome of the Zionist crimes, field executions and the ongoing desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in Jerusalem”. Israeli police forensics teams were later seen working on board the charred frame of the bus.
Attacks on Israeli buses by suicide bombers were a hallmark of the Palestinian uprising in 2000-2005 but have been rare since.
The bus was an Egged public transportation bus on Line 12 in Jerusalem. “Obviously we’re aware of those reports, and law enforcement officials in Israel are taking a close look at this, as they should”.
Police officials had initially said all options were being examined, including a possible technical malfunction.
Other Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops.
“This attack comes in the midst of a wave of violence that has rocked Israel for months”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the explosion.
A city bus exploded and went up in flames Monday evening on a major thoroughfare in the southern end of the capital – the first such attack in Israel in years.
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In the last half year, Palestinian attacks have killed 28 Israelis and two visiting US citizens.
