7 Israelis Killed, 43 Injured In Jerusalem Blast

Ambulances rushed to the scene of the blast and were busy ferrying the injured with Israeli medics saying that 20 Israelis were in a critical condition.

The Israeli radio said that the blast ripped through the back of the bus during the morning rush hour at around 8:30 a.m., when it passed past a fuel station.

TV footage showed body parts scattered across the street as Israeli police have sealed off the area and let loose sniff dogs.

A military source with Ezzudin Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said shortly after the blast that the “killing, slaying or kidnapping is the fate of every Zionist occupying Palestine”.

The source neither confirmed nor denied Hamas’ responsibility for the operation, adding that the resistance movement was “working round the clock and trying its best to liberate the occupied Palestinian territories”.

The Palestinian authority was quick to condemn the blast, urging the United States to breathe new life into the dormant Middle East peace process.

The operation is the first since January 29 car bomb in Al-Quds near the official residence of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The operation killed ten Israelis.

The January 29 attack came after the killing of at least 13 Palestinians in a fresh Israeli incursion into the southern outskirts of Gaza City.