Hamas has largely avoided suicide attacks in recent years as it sought more international acceptance, said HA Hellyer, a senior associate fellow in international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in London
Quote
The attack in Tel Aviv “represents clear desperation” Hellyer said “They want to try and give the Israelis a bloody nose at home in the same way they are getting all this pain”
The level of bloodshed in Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in Israel’s war against Hamas and in the occupied West Bank where nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed since October in Israeli military raids and attacks by radical settlers, has drawn a large recruitment pool for militants, Hellyer said
In such an environment, Hellyer added, Palestinian opposition to such operations, which are “seen as hard to justify religiously” will probably “be more muted”
Israel’s security agencies say they have thwarted several plots to carry out suicide bombings in Israel in recent months. Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage on October 7, 2023 when Hamas-led militants overran southern Israel
The last suicide attack inside Israel took place in 2016 when an attacker detonated a bomb on a Jerusalem bus, injuring 21 people; while Hamas later identified the 19 year old Palestinian assailant, it stopped short of claiming responsibility
Hamas warned that such operations “will resume prominently” as long as the war in Gaza continues
