Israel arrests cell linked to Hamas, Jihad in Tel Aviv bus bombing

Israeli authorities have arrested the people responsible for the bombing of a rush-hour bus last week in Tel Aviv that wounded 29 people, domestic security agency Shin Bet said on Thursday.

"The authors of (the November 21) attack on a bus in Tel Aviv that wounded 29 people were arrested a few hours after the attack" near the West Bank city of Ramallah, a statement said.

"Members of this cell in Beit Lakya linked to Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad admitted during their interrogation having planned attacks against Israelis, prepared a bomb and chosen Tel Aviv as a target," the statement added.

It said they also admitted recruiting an Arab Israeli from Taibeh, an Arab village near Tel Aviv, to carry out the attack.

The blast came at the height of an Israeli air campaign against armed groups in the Gaza and rocket fire from the enclave that ended in a truce on Wednesday.

It struck close to the sprawling defence ministry complex, the Kiriya.

The last time Tel Aviv was hit by a bus bombing was in April 2006.

Last year, an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem ripped through a bus, killing a British tourist and wounding 30 others.

On Wednesday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri praised the bombing, but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

“Hamas blesses the attack in Tel Aviv and sees it as a natural response to the Israeli massacres...in Gaza,” he told Reuters. “Palestinian factions will resort to all means in order to protect our Palestinian civilians in the absence of a world effort to stop the Israeli aggression.”

Hamas fighters have fired at least four rockets at the laid-back Mediterranean metropolis over the past week, but none of them have scored direct hits or caused any casualties.

Ambulances converged on the bus on Wednesday, with television showing smoke rising from the broken windows. The vehicle was not torn apart in the explosion, suggesting it might have been a relatively small bomb.

Israel has carried out more than 1,500 strikes since the offensive began with the killing of a top Hamas commander last week and with declared aim of deterring Hamas from launching rocket attacks that have long disrupted life in its southern towns.

Obtained after an intense diplomatic push led by Egypt and the United States, a ceasefire came into force at 1900 GMT on Wednesday.