Israelis feared the attack presaged a dark shift in the conflict, sparking memories of the second intifada, the armed Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation between 2000 and 2005 that was marked with bombings in malls, on buses and outside nightclubs
Hamas’s armed wing said in a statement that it worked with Palestinian Islamic Jihad to execute the “martyrdom operation” — a term the militant groups use to refer to suicide bombings
It was not immediately clear however whether the attacker planned to kill himself or was intending to plant the bomb before it exploded
Israeli police and Shin Bet, the country’s internal security service, said in a joint statement that a “powerful explosive device” detonated in a “terrorist attack” and injured one person, adding that they are still investigating
The explosion occurred near the Shimon Bar Yochai Synagogue as more than 100 people were praying, according to Rabbi Avraham Meshulam
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“It shook the synagogue,” Meshulam, 73 told The Washington Post
“The windows shattered, people screamed and there was chaos People thought it was a missile from Iran In the end, it turned out to be a terrorist”
Israeli police spokesman Eli Levy told Israeli military radio that if the explosion had occurred a few meters closer to the worshipers “we would have woken up to a huge disaster”
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said the attacker was Palestinian and that an explosive device in his backpack “exploded before he managed to reach a more heavily populated area”
At the scene of the bombing Sunday night, shrapnel marks pitted the road where a black plastic body bag lay behind red and white police cordons
Police held back onlookers as first responders searched the area with flash lights Nearby, a white Nissan truck with a smashed windshield was parked
