Terror attack on Allenby bus
Photo: AP
6 years after fact, Hamas claims responsibility for terror attacks
Organization publishes statement taking responsibility for list of suicide, shooting attacks including Rishon LeZion attack, Allenby bus attack in 2002. Sources theorize statement meant to deter Israel from refusing ceasefire agreement
Hamas on
Saturday took formal responsibility for the suicide attack that took place at a Rishon LeZion nightclub in 2002, in which 15 people were killed and dozens were wounded. Hamas explained that it had delayed taking responsibility by six years due to "security reasons". The organization also took responsibility for a list of other attacks.
A message from Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Hamas' military wing, stated that the attack in Rishon LeZion was executed by a Jordanian citizen by the name of Nebil Moamar. The organization had not taken responsibility for the attack prior to Saturday.
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Hamas also took responsibility for the terror attack that took place on a bus on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv in September of 2002, in which five people were killed. Hamas claimed the attack had been carried out by a Palestinian from a West Bank village near the settlement of Ariel.
More on Hamas' list were the failed attempts to carry out terror attacks on the train tracks in Lod and on a truck in the Pi-Gliloth Petrolium Terminal. The organization also announced it had been responsible for shooting attacks in the area of the Beit Hagai and Gush Etzion settlements.
Hamas concluded the message by stating, "Our cells in the West Bank are in order and ready to attack the enemy at the time and place deemed correct, in response to the enemy's crimes."
Palestinian sources estimate that Hamas launched the message in order to warn Israel that in case the ceasefire agreement did not work out, the organization's operatives would once again be able to execute terror attacks throughout the country.
