The Al Quds brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the Tel Aviv suicide bombing which took place on Thursday afternoon near a central bus station in southern Tel Aviv.
Twenty Israelis were injured in the blast, the bomber Sami Antar, 20, was the only fatality; Antar the from Balata refugee camp, in the West Bank city of Nablus.
The movement released a video recording in which it claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The Islamic Jihad said that this blast comes in retaliation to the continuous Israeli attacks, arrests and assassinations.
Khaled Al Batsh, Islamic Jihad Media Spokesperson, said that the Israeli army did not stop its assassinations and killed recently several fighters of the movement, and other resistance factions.
An Israeli security source reported that Israeli had no specific warnings on an attack, but only general information indicating Islamic Jihad was intending to strike, Israeli online daily Haaretz reported.
The bombing took place at a Shawarma stand close to the bus station, at the junction of Neveh Sha’anan and Salomon streets. The area is normally crowded with shoppers and travelers.
Witnesses said the bomber entered the restaurant pretending to be a peddler selling disposable razors.
According to the Israeli police, the bomber blew himself up in the restaurant’s bathroom; the police believe that the bomber may have been trying to prepare the explosive device when it went off prematurely.
The Palestinian Authority slammed the bombing and said that it is intended to disrupt the legislative elections.
Chief Palestinian negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erekat, condemned the bombing and called it "an act of sabotage against Palestinian parliamentary balloting" scheduled for next Wednesday.
"We condemn this attack," he stated, "This is an attack is meant to sabotage the Palestinian elections and sabotage the efforts being exerted to revive the peace process after the elections".
In December 5, 2004, five Israelis were killed in a suicide bombing which took place outside a shopping mall in the Israeli in the coastal city of Netanya.
Suicide attack at Tel Aviv bus station Lewis Turner & Ghassan Bannoura & Agencies, 16:41
At 3:45PM on Thursday a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a coffee shop near to the old central bus station in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Israeli sources reproted.
The bomber himself was the only fatality and 16 Israelis were injured in the attack. One of the injured was in a serious condition, four people sustained moderate wounds and nine other were hurt lightly. All of the wounded were evacuated from the scene of the attack to nearby hospitals shortly after the bombing took place.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a statement published on the Israeli online newspaper Ha’aretz, the office of the Israeli Prime Minister said that the blame for the attack should be directed at the Palestinian Authority: "The attack in Tel Aviv is a direct result of the Palestinian Authority’s glaring indifference to preventing terror against Israel".
The bombing follows a week of further unrest in the West Bank, where the Israeli Army assassinated a top Hamas militant leader in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, in addition to dozens of arrests of Palestinians from various towns and villages across the West Bank.
