The police said in a statement with the Shin Bet that a person carrying a bomb exploded near a synagogue, adding that the person was killed and a passerby was injured.
“We can now confirm that this was a terrorist attack,” the joint statement said.
The police have ordered an increased level of alert and extensive searches throughout the Tel Aviv area, confirming that they are assessing the situation.
For its part, the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attack that took place on Sunday evening in Tel Aviv.
The movement said in a statement that it carried out the operation, which it described as a “martyrdom operation,” in cooperation with the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement.
The Israeli police said the incident occurred at around 8 p.m., when an explosive device exploded on Lahi Street, killing an unidentified person and moderately wounding another.
Maariv newspaper reported that the security assessment indicates that the person killed in the explosion was carrying the explosive device with him, and the truck that was at the scene of the incident prevented a greater disaster.
For its part, Israeli Channel 12 said that the suspect was filmed carrying a backpack and long clothes immediately before the explosion.
The operation took place shortly after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv to discuss a ceasefire in Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip for more than a decade.
Blinken is holding a series of meetings with senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amid growing fears of a wider regional escalation.
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