A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to a shopping mall in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya on Monday morning. The blast killed five people and wounded some 40 more, seven seriously.
Israeli sources said that the attack occurred at around 11:30 A.M local time.
The bomber reportedly detonated his explosive at the entrance to the mall, and was restricted from entering it, when the blast occurred.
The Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, claimed responsibility for the bombing attack.
Sources in the Movement said that Lutfi Amin Abu Sami, from Kufr Ra'ee village, Jenin district, was the bomber that carried out the attack. It said that the operation was in retaliation to the "Israeli assassination crimes" that targeted a number of its leaders and in reprisal to the continued Israeli aggressions on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In a statement released by the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, and said that those responsible would pay the price.
"This operation... against civilians causes the most serious harm to our committment to the peace process and the Palestinian Authority will not go easy on whoever is found to be responsible for this operation," he said.
Senior Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat also said the attack was not in Palestinians' best interests. "I believe that this harms Palestinian interests and is another act to sabotage efforts to revive the peace process and to sabotage the Palestinian elections."
In July 2005, five Israelis were killed when an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber blew himself up near the same shopping mall.
