TEHRAN -- Two separate explosions rocked two bus stations at the entrance of occupied Al-Quds on Wednesday, killing at least one Israeli and wounding several others.
The explosions occurred on Shaari Street in the morning. The Jerusalem Post said one Israeli died and 18 others were injured, a number of whom were in critical condition.
The first explosion occurred near the Central Bus Station close to the main entrance of Al-Quds at 7 a.m. local time and a second blast hit shortly after 7:30 a.m. at the Ramot junction, another entrance to the Israeli-occupied city.
Television footage showed debris around the blast scene, which was cordoned off by emergency services.
The occupying regime’s media quoted police as saying that the second explosion took place on a bus that was empty in the nearby neighborhood of Ramot, with several suffering small wounds due to shrapnel.
Police said they had closed off the Route 1 highway following the first blast.
Reacting to the blasts, Islamic Jihad spokesman Tarek Ezz el-Din said the operation was a natural response to the Israeli occupation and its terror and criminal practices against the defenseless Palestinian people.
It is a clear message to the Israeli apartheid leaders that their criminal policies will fail to protect the regime or its settlers in the face of the Palestinian resistance, he said.
“All Judaization operations, incursions into sanctities, and attacks on our people in Al-Quds, Al-Khalil, Jenin, and Nablus will not go unpunished,” Ezz el-Din added.
Hamas spokesman Muhammad Hamadeh said “the Palestinian people are determined to teach the occupation multiple lessons in response to the violent acts it has been taking against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
He asserted that the Palestinian people have chosen to take action to defend themselves in face of Israeli aggressions.
“The Hamas movement blesses has
said its word to the occupation; our people are steadfast and adhere to the choice of resistance,” he said.
Similarly, the Palestinian Liberation Organization hailed the two operations and said they come in the context of a firm and normal response in face of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and terrorism against Palestinians.
In a statement it released following the operations, the PLO said, “The crimes of the occupation, the terror of its settlers, the desecration of the land and the people, the Judaization of Al-Quds, the execution of (Palestinian) citizens, the intimidation of the people, and other aggressive measures all aim at intimidating our people and discouraging them from continuing their struggle and resistance.”
The statement underlined that such an apartheid regime and occupation can only be confronted through resistance.
Some analysts say such bombing attacks are very unusual and haven’t taken place for several years. It has the characteristics of the operations that happened during the second Palestinian Intifada two decades ago, they say.
Israeli Knesset member Itmar Ben Gvir was reported by Hebrew media as saying that “the two explosions returned us back” to the Intifada era.
The Second Intifada broke out in September 2000 following a visit by the occupying regime’s then leader Ariel Sharon to Haram al-Sharif or Temple Mount in Al-Quds, in a move that was denounced by Palestinians as highly provocative. The uprising ended in February 2005 following a truce between the Zionists and the Palestinians.
The occupied territories have been the scene of heightened tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
During the past few months, Israeli forces have stepped up overnight raids and killings against Palestinians, mainly in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus, where new groups of Palestinian resistance fighters have been formed.
At least 190 Palestinians have been martyred by Israeli forces in the illegally occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip since the beginning of 2022, according to the Palestinian health ministry.