A 50-year-old man whose identity is not yet known was killed Sunday night as a result of an explosion of a device he carried in a backpack on Lehi Street in Tel Aviv. The MDA team that arrived at the scene pronounced him dead on the spot. A passerby, a 33-year-old man, was moderately injured (Shin Bet Involved in Probe of Deadly Tel Aviv Bombing).
?הפיצוץ בתל אביב?
מדובר באירוע חריג מאוד שנגמר בנס גדול.תיעוד: רגע פיצוץ המטען בתל אביב. pic.twitter.com/a8v32nJKy8
— Tal Z ?⚜ (@TAL_TALZ) August 18, 2024
The presumed suicide bomber, wearing a dark shirt, jeans, and glasses, was recorded walking on Etzel Street with a large blue backpack on his back, and when he reached Lehi Street, his backpack blew up. The security establishment has determined that this was an attempt at a terrorist suicide attack that failed due to a malfunction.
The explosion took place near a synagogue where the evening prayer was in progress.
No one so far has observed that both Etzel and Lehi were Jewish undergrounds that operated under the British Mandate in the 1940s and were referred to as terrorists by Her Majesty’s colonial police.
The commander of the Tel Aviv police district, Superintendent Peretz Amar, said at the scene of Sunday night’s explosion that “the dead man carried the explosive load on him.” According to Amar, “the intent of a terrorist attack is very relevant.”
In the past, the Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah managed to infiltrate Israel with a terrorist who planted a powerful bomb at the Megiddo junction near Hadera (Security Forces Probe Megiddo Junction Bombing that Seriously Wounded Man in Northern Israel).
According to Superintendent Amar, the police received dozens of calls to the emergency center around 8 PM, and citizens and police officers reported a mutilated body that parts of it were scattered in the street. He added that the person injured in the incident was passing by on a scooter, and he hopes to get more information from him that will shed more light on the event.
