Jerusalem – A Palestinian suicide bomber detonated his explosives at an outdoor market in the Israeli coastal town of Hadera on Wednesday, killing at least five people and wounding more than two dozen, Israeli police said.
The powerful blast left the street covered with blood and overturned fruit crates as ambulances and rescue workers rushed to the market in Hadera, the scene of numerous terrorist attacks in recent years.
The Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility and called it a response to the killing of a top Islamic Jihad leader Sunday night in Tulkarm, a West Bank town about 10 miles southeast of Hadera.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing, saying it “harms the Palestinian interests and could widen the cycle of violence, chaos, extremism and bloodshed.”
But Israel criticized the Palestinian leadership for failing to act to prevent attacks against Israel.
“In those places where the Palestinian Authority fails to deal with terrorists, we will have to do it – and we can’t wait,” said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Gissin did not specify what steps Israel might take, although in recent weeks the security forces have staged frequent incursions in the West Bank, arresting hundreds of suspects linked to Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Israel also has placed additional travel restrictions on West Bank roads in an attempt to prevent roadside ambushes of Jewish settlers.
Islamic Jihad is a small faction, but it has carried out many bombings and shootings against Israel, including three suicide bombings that have killed Israeli civilians this year.
Israel said Saadi had orchestrated the two previous suicide bombings, a blast in February that killed five Israelis at a nightclub in Tel Aviv and an explosion in July that killed five outside a shopping mall in Netanya.
Israel’s raid into Tulkarm on Sunday night was the most recent raid targeting Islamic Jihad members in the area, a stronghold for the group. In the two earlier suicide attacks, the bombers came from adjacent villages just outside Tulkarm.
Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank is among several measures that have made it more difficult – though not impossible – for Palestinians to reach Israeli cities to carry out attacks.
Speaking in the Palestinian parliament shortly before the suicide bombing, Abbas criticized the recent Palestinian rocket fire directed at Israel.
Islamic Jihad has been launching rockets from northern Gaza into southern Israel after the death of Saadi. Israel has carried out airstrikes directed at the launching sites. On Wednesday afternoon, a Palestinian rocket landed in an empty soccer field in southern Israel, the military said.
“We have to understand that we must not give Israel the excuse to hit back,” Abbas told the parliament in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Those who do act on their own “should be confronted with an iron fist,” Abbas added.
In March, Islamic Jihad was among the Palestinian factions that told Abbas they would refrain from attacks against Israel, but the group said it would hit back after Israeli raids.
Israel said it would halt incursions in Palestinian areas unless it faced the threat of attack. The military says actual and planned attacks have been on the rise recently, prompting the frequent West Bank raids.