UPDATE: Tel Aviv blast was a failed terror attack

Security and rescue forces at the scene of an explosion in south Tel Aviv, Aug. 18, 2024. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.

The Israel Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) have determined that a deadly bombing in south Tel Aviv on Sunday night was a failed terrorist attack.

The bomber, who was killed in the blast, was a Palestinian from the area of Nablus (Shechem) in central Samaria, and an accomplice is believed to have transported him to Tel Aviv.

“It can be said that this was a terror attack, with the detonation of a powerful explosive device,” the police and Shin Bet said in a joint statement following a situation assessment led by the commander of the Tel Aviv Police District, who ordered increased alertness in the Dan region.

According to estimates the bomb weighed less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds). The security establishment is very concerned about copycat attacks.

Picture released of the bomber who tried to attack Tel Aviv tonight.

It shows him carrying a backpack with a bomb. It exploded prematurely, killing only him. pic.twitter.com/H5L4tD599r

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 18, 2024

Ayalon District Police Commander Haim Bublil told Kan News Radio that “it is possible that the assailant planned to reach the nearby synagogue or perhaps the shopping center. We have no ability to understand why [the bomb] exploded at this point in time.”

The blast occurred on Lehi Road around 8 p.m. A 33-year-old passerby by on an electric scooter was moderately wounded.

Paramedics pronounced the bomber dead at the scene and the wounded man was taken to the hospital.

“The scene here speaks for itself, it is a powerful charge that could have caused significant damage. We are in a kind of miracle that the incident did not end in dozens of deaths,” said Bublil.

Police spokesman Eli Levy also confirmed to Kan News that there is a high probably the incident was an attempted terrorist attack.

“A great miracle happened here. It’s a very serious incident that was investigated by the police and the ISA [Shin Bet],” he said.

Hammer-wielding terrorist kills Israeli in Samaria

A Palestinian terrorist used a hammer to kill an Israeli in the Bar-On Industrial Park, near the community of Kedumim in Samaria, on Sunday.

“A report was received of a terrorist who attacked an Israeli citizen and stole his weapon in the Bar-On industrial area in the [sector of the] Samaria Brigade,” the IDF said in a statement, adding that forces arrived at the scene and launched a hunt for the assailant.

“The victim is a man in his 40s who sustained severe head wounds,” said Shirel Popkin, a United Hatzalah paramedic who was the first to arrive at the scene. “I administered initial medical treatment in the factory yard, assisted by a military doctor who evacuated him from the scene.”

The victim was evacuated to the hospital in an IDF mobile intensive care unit ambulance, Popkin said in a statement shared by United Hatzalah.

He was later pronounced dead by doctors at Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah.

The victim was subsequently identified by the mayor of Kedumim as Gidon Peri, 38, a father of three and a resident of the community.

הנרצח בפיגוע בשומרון: גדעון פרי, תושב קדומים, בן 38.
עבד כמנהל הייצור וכמאבטח במפעל באזור התעשייה שבו נרצח היום. המחבל עבד באותו מפעל.
גדעון היה נשוי לאלה, ואב ל3 ילדים: בני 15, 11 ו8 pic.twitter.com/rZ6cKnL2rl

— Carmel Dangor כרמל דנגור (@carmeldangor) August 18, 2024

“We demand that the Israeli government understand that we are at war and order the military to act accordingly. We mourn the death of our friend, but we are not broken—the settlement of the Jews in their land is stronger than any terrorist attack,” Kedumim Mayor Uziel Vatik said.

Following the incident, residents of Kedumim were told to remain in their homes, with their doors and windows locked, until further notice.

In addition, security forces closed the road between Shavei Shomron and the Jit Junction as they searched for the Palestinian terrorist.

According to the Samaria Regional Council, which administers the area, the terrorist had a permit to enter the Bar-On Industrial Park, located around a mile north of Kedumim, and was employed in a factory there.

Israeli rescue forces at the site of a terrorist attack near Kedumim in Samaria, Aug. 18, 2024. Credit: United Hatzalah.

Judea and Samaria saw more than 500 Palestinian terrorist attacks each month on average in the first half of 2024, according to figures Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) published on Aug. 1.

In the first six months of this year, first responders recorded 3,272 acts of terrorism in the region, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing, 456 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 299 explosive charges and 109 shootings.

Palestinian terrorists have killed 14 people and wounded more than 155 others in Judea and Samaria since the start of the year, the group said.

With reporting by JNS.