Teenager killed in twin blasts in Jerusalem

Jerusalem — Two bombs exploded at bus stops on Jerusalem’s outskirts on Wednesday, killing a 16-year-old boy and wounding at least 14 other people, in what appeared to be an attack by Palestinian militants, Israeli authorities said.

Police blamed the initial blast, which occurred during rush hour, on an explosive device planted at a bus station near the city exit. The second, which exploded about 30 minutes later, hit a bus stop near housing in the east of the city.

“There has not been such a co-ordinated attack in Jerusalem for many years,” police spokesman Eli Levi told Israeli Army Radio.

Army Radio said the explosive devices were hidden in bags and were packed with nails to maximise the impact. Kan Radio said they appear to have been detonated from afar by mobile phone.

Security camera footage aired by N12 news showed the moment of the first explosion with a sudden cloud of smoke billowing from the bus stop. Television showed debris strewn around the site, which was cordoned off by emergency services.

Israel’s ambulance service said 12 people had been taken to hospital from the first blast and three people were wounded in the second explosion. A 16-year-old who was wounded died in hospital, the Shaare Zedek Medical Center said.

The UN, the EU and the US condemned the attacks.

“Terrorism is a dead-end that accomplishes absolutely nothing,” the US embassy said on Twitter.

Tension

The explosions, which carry echoes of the bus bombings that were a hallmark of the Palestinian revolt of 2000-2005, follow months of tension in the occupied West Bank after the Israeli military launched a crackdown in the wake of a series of deadly Palestinian attacks in Israel.

The co-ordinated explosions appeared to be a step-up from the string of mostly Palestinian lone-wolf stabbing, shooting and car ramming attacks in 2022.

In Gaza, a spokesman for the Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the Jerusalem explosions, but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua linked the blasts to “the crimes conducted by the (Israeli) occupation and the settlers”.

The explosions came as former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu negotiates with allies to form a new right-wing government including members of religious and far-right parties.

One of his allies, ultranationalist legislator Itamar Ben-Gvir, who heads the Jewish Power party, visited the scene of the first bombing where he demanded tough action against militants.

“Even if it’s in the West Bank, lay siege to them and go from house to house in search of guns and restore our deterrence power,” said Ben-Gvir, who hopes to be appointed police minister in the new government.

In a separate incident, Palestinian gunmen late on Tuesday abducted the body of an Israeli high school student who had died in a Palestinian hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin after being injured in a car crash nearby, the teenager’s uncle told Kan Radio.

A diplomat source said the UN was mediating on the release of the body and Israeli military said it expected that that would happen soon.

It was unclear why the gunmen had taken the body and there was no immediate indication of any connection between this incident and the bombings.

Reuters