Update, 4:05 p.m.: Israel’s domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet, has confirmed that Monday’s explosion was a terror attack. Haaretz now says more than 20 people have been injured, while the New York Times says says 21 were affected; none appear to have died. Several Palestinian terror groups have praised the attack, but none have taken responsibility.
News also broke Monday that Israel recently uncovered a Hamas-built tunnel under the Gaza border for the first time since 2014, after which the group released an ominous statement about its future plans. Taken in combination with the bus attack and the recent claims about the resumption of suicide bombings (see links below), today has not been a good one for the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Original post, 1:06 p.m.: At least 15 people were injured Monday in Jerusalem when an apparently empty bus exploded and caused a second bus containing passengers to catch fire, multiple outlets say. Haaretz is reporting that emergency responders believe the conflagration was caused by an explosive device, and Jerusalem’s mayor has called the incident a terrorist attack.
Two of the wounded individuals are in serious condition.
Some 30 Israelis have been killed since September 2015 in a wave of terror stabbings, but Monday’s injuries would appear to be the first inflicted by a bus bombing in the country since 2012. (The terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have both recently suggested that they may resume frequent suicide bombings, which have been carried out relatively rarely since the end of the “Second Intifada” in 2005.)
