Gaza War Updates | Hamas, Islamic Jihad Claim Responsibility For Tel Aviv Bombing, US’ Blinken Meets Israeli Leaders

Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Monday claimed joint responsibility for a bombing in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv that killed the assailant and wounded one person.

The armed wings of both groups, which have fought Israeli forces in Gaza, said in a statement that they “carried out the suicide operation that took place Sunday evening in the city of Tel Aviv”, threatening more such attacks in Israel “as long as the occupation’s massacres, the displacement of civilians and the policy of assassinations continue”.

Israeli police said Monday that a “powerful” explosion the night before in Tel Aviv was a “terror attack” that prompted heightened alert.

“As a result of the explosion, a passerby was moderately injured,” the police said, adding that authorities had ordered “an increase in alert levels and extensive searches throughout the greater Tel Aviv area”.

The blast late on Sunday came shortly after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv to push for a ceasefire in Gaza after more than 10 months of war, and as fears grow of a wider, regional conflagration.

Blinken Meets Israeli Leaders

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Monday urged Israel and Hamas not to derail negotiations that he said may be a “last opportunity” to secure a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.

Blinken, on his ninth regional tour since Hamas’s October 7 attack triggered the war, said he was back in Israel “to get this agreement to the line and ultimately over the line”.

“This is a decisive moment — probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security,” Blinken said as he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.

The US secretary of state later met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and is due to travel on Tuesday to Cairo where ceasefire talks are expected to resume this week.

Israel and Hamas blamed each other for delays in reaching a truce accord, which diplomats say could help avert a wider conflagration in the Middle East.

“We’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places, and to greater intensity,” Blinken said.

“It is time for it to get done. It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process.”

Months of on-off talks with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have failed to produce an agreement.

Failed Qatar Meeting

After the Qatar meeting, the United States had submitted what mediators called a “bridging proposal”, which Hamas on Sunday said “responds to Netanyahu’s conditions” and includes terms that the Palestinian group would not accept.

Hamas insisted on “a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip”, saying Netanyahu wanted to keep Israeli forces at several strategic locations.

It mentioned Netzarim junction, which sits between northern and southern Gaza, as well as the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi corridor on the Hamas-ruled territory’s border with Egypt, which Israel sees as important for preventing the flow of weapons.

Netanyahu was “fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators”, the Palestinian movement said in a statement.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, in a post on social media platform X, called on Netanyahu to “not miss this opportunity” and “bring them back”.

Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters protesting in Israel, and Hamas itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu in order for an agreement to be reached.

On Sunday Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas “remains obstinate” and must be pressured, a day after his office said Israeli negotiators had expressed “cautious optimism” about reaching a deal.

War In Gaza

The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 40,099 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 111 are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.

The plan announced by Biden at the end of May would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks as Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters Gaza.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)