The almost simultaneous explosion of several explosive artifacts has set fire to three buses on Thursday night – which were empty, in nearby parking lots – in the Israeli town of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. Police investigates the incident, which has not caused injuries, such as a multiple attack, something that there are few precedents since the end of the second intifada in 2005. Explosions occur in the middle of a delicate truce in Gaza and an intense , especially in the Northern refugee camps, which has left dozens of dead in a month and 40,000 displaced. The local media point out that the message listed in the explosives, in Hebrew and Arabic, was: “Revenge from Tulkarem”, one of the cities of the West Bank in which Israeli troops have penetrated. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamín Netanyahu, has ordered an “intensive operation” in the West Bank and its head of Defense, Israel Katz, “increase the intensity” from which it is already underway.
The artifiers have proceeded to deactivate two other artifacts that did not explode in the nearby Holon. The Chief of the Tel Aviv district police, Jaim Sargrof, has indicated in the place of the facts that the five explosives are similar, with stopwatch and elements, such as the aforementioned message, which point to their elaboration in the Palestinian territories.
One of the witnesses, Shmuel Malka, of an emergency service formed by volunteers, assured Israeli public television that he went to the place of the first explosion and listened to a second “more powerful” to dozens of meters.
When the first two buses were on fire, the direction of the company that manages them ordered the rest of the drivers to stop immediately and check if there were suspicious objects. The police have already tracked all buses and trains in the area. He has also stopped the tram towards Tel Aviv.
A broad operation of the police, the army and the secret services seeks the suspects of having left the artifacts in the buses. Sargrof has admitted that they do not know if they have been one or more, and are reviewing the surveillance cameras of the area. The agents were looking for a person who was captured fleeing in the direction of the tram, but has turned out to be a simple Bat Yam neighbor, he said.
