Blast Is Israel's Deadliest In 2 Years

9 Dead, Dozens Hurt; Palestinians Say Israelis Fired Missiles Hours Later

(CBS/AP) 

The suicide bombing was the first in Israel since Hamas took over the Palestinian government 2½ weeks ago — and came shortly ahead of a swearing in ceremony in Jerusalem for the new Israeli parliament. It was also the deadliest since August 2004, when twin bombings by Hamas in the Israeli town of Beersheba killed 16 Israelis.

Islamic Jihad identified the bomber as Sami Hammad, 21, from the West Bank village of Arakeh near the town of Jenin. Hammad's family said he had studied social work in a distance-learning program but was forced to quit because of money problems.

In a video released by the group, Hammad said the bombing was dedicated to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. "There are many other bombers on the way," he said. Hammad was dressed in black and wore a headband with yellow Quranic verses.

Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in recent years, has largely observed a truce with Israel for more than a year. Yet in a sharp departure from the previous Palestinian leadership's immediate condemnations of such attacks, Hamas leaders defended the bombing.

"We think that this operation ... is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people," said Khaled Abu Helal, spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir said Israel held Hamas ultimately responsible for such attacks because it is "giving support to all the other terrorist organizations."

"From our point of view it doesn't matter if it comes from Al Aqsa, Islamic Jihad or Hamas. They all come out of the same school of terrorism led by Hamas," he said.

It was the second major Passover bombing in four years. In 2002, a Palestinian bomber blew himself up at a hotel in the coastal town of Netanya, killing 29 people. That attack triggered a major Israeli military offensive.

A witness, 62-year-old Sonya Levy, said she had just finished shopping when the blast went off.

"I was about to get into my car, and boom, there was an explosion. A bit of human flesh landed on my car and I started to scream," she said. Her car was 50 yards from the explosion, and its windshield was smeared with blood.

The blast shattered the windshields of cars, and blew out the windows of nearby buildings. Glass shards and blood splattered the ground. The sign of the restaurant's building was blown away. Bottles and other debris were scattered up to 25 yards from the site of the blast.

Police searched for a vehicle that left the scene shortly before the blast. Later Monday, police stopped a car with three suspected Palestinian accomplices in the West Bank. The bomb squad examined the car, police said.

On Sunday, the exiled leader of Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shallah, said the militant group was making "nonstop efforts" to infiltrate suicide bombers from the West Bank into Israel. "The nonstop crackdown against our resistance might limit this effort, but it's not going to stop it," he said in a statement posted on the group's Web site.

Shallah made his comments while attending an anti-Israel conference in Iran.

Palestinian militants have carried out nine suicide attacks in Israel and the West Bank since a Feb. 8, 2005, truce declaration. All but one attack have been carried out by Islamic Jihad.