Updated throughout the day. Scroll down for updates.
At least 3 people one person (see update below) has been killed in a suicide bombing in Dimona, with another 8 people moderately wounded.
Here’s more on the terrorist attack:
Police officials told Army Radio that there appeared to be two attackers, although only one managed to detonate his explosives belt. The other was shot dead by authorities before detonating his belt, police said.
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There was no indication that the bombers had entered Israel from the Gaza Strip.
“We heard a big explosion, and people began running,” a shopowner who gave her name as Ravital told Army Radio. “I saw pieces of bodies flying in the air.”
Witnesses described the explosion as “massive.”
A large number of rescue services and police crews rushed to the shopping center. Magen David Adom said at least 20 ambulances had arrived on the scene and were evacuating people to hospital.
The Zaka emergency service said the body of a “terrorist” and an explosives belt were found at the scene in the desert town.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which occurred several weeks after Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks opposed by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
Updates (Israel time)
11:30AM: Hezbollah TV have reported that the attack was carried out by the Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Which means we can chalk another attack down to our “peace partner” Mahmoud Abbas, folks.
11:32AM: Following the attack, the Police Commissioner has raised the police’s alert level across Israel, focusing on the Seam Line, the Jerusalem vicinity and southern Israel.
11:38AM: From the Ha’aretz news ticker:
Hamas: Don’t know if our group was involved, but Dimona attack justified
Leaving aside the absurdity of not knowing whether their own group was involved, let’s instead reflect on the pure evil of commending the murder of innocent people.
11:40AM: Given that this is the first suicide bombing attack in a year, I would have to agree with Likud MK Moshe Kahlon, who said it was the direct result of the breaching of the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
11:45AM: Our peace partners Fatah have reportedly said that this will be the year of terrorist attacks. I wonder how much of this attack was funded by your taxpayer dollars.
11:50AM: The palestinian Ma’an News Agency reports:
Ma’an learned from special sources that the Palestinian bomber blew himself up in the middle of a mall where hundreds of Israelis were shopping. The sources said there is still another explosive device which has not exploded.
I hope they are referring to the undetonated bomb belt.
Ma’an also reports:
The military wing of the Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades told Ma’an that their fighters conducted the operation in cooperation with the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades.
Which contradicts the Fatah claim of responsibility. But we all know the various palestinian terrorist groups just love to claim responsibility for the wholesale murder of Jews, since it is good for their approval ratings.
By the way, that is the same PFLP founded by recently deceased terrorist George Habash, who was lauded by Mahmoud Abbas and even Israeli Arab MKs as a wonderful man.
12:00PM: Ynet confirms my last update, and adds that Hizbullah’s al-Manar television station reported that the two terrorists were residents of the Gaza Strip. Bingo!
12:02PM: Actually, it is not 3 people killed, but rather 1 person and 2 animals.
12:43PM: The victim was a woman.
12:52PM: Despite the fact a few hours have passed, the only foreign press photograph and caption on the attack is this:
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up and police shot dead his accomplice in an attack in a shopping center in southern Israel on Monday that killed at least one Israeli, emergency services said. The suicide bombing in Dimona, a desert town where a top-secret nuclear reactor is located, was the first in Israel in a year. (Graphics/Reuters)
Not one photograph from the scene.
But blink and you’ll miss it, since it is surrounded by the mandatory “palestinians at the border” photographs.
12:56PM: My mistake. There’s also this one:
1:00PM: More details of the attack have emerged, including how the second terrorist was killed.
A police officer who was in the area, Superintendent Kobi Mor, shot and killed another terrorist. The explosive device on the second bomber’s body did not explode, and sappers were dispatched to the scene of the attack to detonate the device in a controlled manner.
1:07PM: The PA have responded in true PA fashion.
Mahmoud Habbash (related to George? – ed), a minister in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ government, condemned the attack, but blamed Israel for creating an atmosphere of violence with its ongoing attacks against militants in Gaza.
“We are against anything that would take us back to a cycle of violence, he said. “We carry Israel responsibility for this escalation, and for what happened.”
Yes. “We are against anything that would take us back to a cycle of violence” and not “We are against anything that takes the lives of innocent people.”
1:20PM: An IAF strike in northern Gaza has reportedly wounded 3 palestinians.
1:26PM: Ma’an reports that an Israeli raid on Beit Lahia killed top Popular Resistance Committees leader ‘Amir Qarmoot.
1:42PM: Contender for Weird Headline of the Day is this one from AP:
No palestinian suicide bomber to see here. Move along.
1:5oPM: A Fatah official has denied al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade involvement in the bombing.
1:55PM: Looks like the PRC terrorist we killed was none other than ‘Amir Qarmoot “My name is Earl” Abu As-Sa’id, who has proven to be quite the slippery little sucker in the past.
3:12PM: Ma’an news quotes an Al-Aqsa Brigades spokesperson who said the attack came “in retaliation for the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip.” Yet according to Ha’aretz:
Abu Fouad, a spokesman for the Fatah-allied Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – which claimed responsibility for the attack – said the operation had been planned for a month, but was made possible after militants violently opened Gaza’s border with Egypt on January 23.
In other words, it was in retaliation for the so-called siege that hadn’t occurred yet.
This reminds me of what happened with the breach of the border wall. While palestinians and mainstream media alike were claiming it was the spontaneous action of a poor people just trying to break free from their Zionist shackles, we later discovered it had been planned by Hamas terrorists well in advance.
3:18PM: Egyptian police have detained a palestinian man carrying explosives.
3:23PM: Meet Israel’s answer to Jack Bauer.
Police officer Koby Mor told reporters a short time ago how he eliminated the second suicide terrorist in Dimona Monday morning. “I was in the area when I received a call about the terrorist attack,” he recalled. After he turned his vehicle around and arrived at the scene where one suicide bomber had set off his charge, people in the area pointed to an area where they saw a second suicide bomber. I saw him and shot him, but after two minutes he raised his hand towards the bomb, and I fired again,” killing him.
Police officials said that Mor will be awarded for his action, which prevented a worse tragedy.
And the beauty is that there are many others like him.
3:35PM: Even though Fatah have denied Al Aqsa involvement, the latter have identified the murderers as Raji al-Kilani and Iman al-Hadayan.
3:45PM: Well done international community. This is the people you are backing.
As word of the suicide bombing in Dimona spread Monday, Gaza residents were treated to celebratory wreaths of flowers as well as sweets that were handed to drivers and passers-by.
Gaza motorists receiving the treats and sweets also honked their horns in triumph and celebration.
Meanwhile, when the IDF inadvertently kills a palestinian civilian, there is remorse expressed, and constant debate within Israeli society.
I have said it once and I am going to now say it again: even if you accepted the palestinian’s historical claim to this land (which I don’t), they had forfeited this “right” a long time ago, due to their moral bankruptcy.
3:52PM: And here’s footage of the palestinians celebrating.
5:00PM: Another typical response from PA President Mahmoud Abbas:
PA President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement condemning Monday’s terror attack in Dimona but also censored the IDF for killing two gunmen near Jenin. He said the PA was against violence on both sides.
“The Authority condemns the attack [in Dimona] but also the IDF operation in which two Islamic Jihad members were killed” earlier Monday, the statement said.
Ahh yes, that cherished “but.”
Fact: Abbas has never once unequivocally condemned a palestinian terrorist attack on the grounds it is morally reprehensible.
5:10PM: The Director of the Soroka University Medical Center has said that the hospital admitted 48 people injured in the Dimona suicide bombing.
“These are predominately victims of shock who are in worse than usual condition, including one man that has experienced a suicide bombing before. One critically injured patient has been operated on and was sent to the intensive care unit.”
5:53PM: People in glass houses coming up against Egyptian border guards shouldn’t throw stones.
7:00PM: Egyptian forces have reportedly killed one palestinian in the Gaza-Egypt border clashes.
8:38PM: The Jerusalem Post reports that the security establishment is beginning to believe that the Dimona attackers came from Hebron, and not from the Gaza Strip as was earlier claimed by Fatah.
