Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad took responsibility Monday for what appeared to be a failed bombing attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sunday and threatened additional attacks if the war in Gaza continued.
The blast came late Sunday as mediators were working on a cease-fire agreement in the devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The bomb seemed to go off prematurely, killing the assailant and injuring a bystander. It was unclear whether the attacker planned to carry out a suicide attack or plant the explosives and set them off remotely.
Agence France-Presse quoted the militant groups as referring to the attack as a "suicide operation."
Palestinian militants used suicide bombings in the 1990s and 2000s, killing hundreds of civilians.
Tel Aviv's district police commander, Deputy Commissioner Peretz Amar, told reporters that the bomb had gone off a few meters away from a synagogue full of people. He said possible issues with the timing of the bomb helped avoid "a very real tragedy."
Amar said the suspect had appeared on security footage walking down the street and wearing a large backpack, and that he was not previously known to police. The deputy commissioner added that authorities were working to determine where he came from and whether he received additional support.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad said similar attacks would continue "as long as the occupation's massacres, the displacement of civilians and the policy of assassinations continue." The statement appeared to refer to the war in the Gaza Strip and recent Israeli strikes that killed senior Hamas and Hezbollah militants.
The blast took place shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken touched down in Tel Aviv for cease-fire talks.
The bombing came just days after health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza announced that the Palestinian death toll from the war had surpassed 40,000.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
