Gaza City, Sept 10: The armed wing of the hardline Islamic movement Hamas today hailed two suicide bombings which left at least 15 Israelis dead, saying that the "moment has come for Israel to pay for its crimes". A suicide bomber killed seven people and wounded some 40 others in a late-night attack in a cafe in west Jerusalem yesterday, just hours after a similar blast near an Israeli military base left eight soldiers dead.
Two Palestinians killed in an Israeli army operation earlier in this west bank town were identified as the local head of the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades, Hamas' armed wing, and one of his aides, Palestinian security sources said.
"After the operations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and despite the precautionary measures taken by the Zionists we say to them 'the time has come to pay for your daily crimes against the Palestinians'," the group said in a statement aired on the Qatari al-Jazeera television channel.
"Rather than mere words we are using retaliation and vengeance," the statement adding, stopping short of explicitly claiming responsibility for the attacks.
Israel said it held Hamas responsible for the powerful Tel Aviv blast, adding that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must share in the blame after failing to crack down on militants.
Israel has been on a high state of alert in the aftermath of a failed attempt to assassinate, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the Hamas movement. Bureau Report