“Every resident of Dimona today finds himself in a new reality,” said Dimona Mayor Meir Cohen after the suicide bombing that killed a woman and ripped apart his city’s commercial center Monday morning. “Life will no longer be routine.”
At least 20 people were wounded in the attack, including one man in critical condition, three listed in moderate condition, and the rest lightly wounded. The attack targeted, for the first time, the Negev city of Dimona, home to Israel's nuclear reactor.
National Union Knesset Member Uri Ariel warned that the suicide bombing is the prelude to “a new wave of terrorism.” Ariel joined lawmakers from the Yisrael Beiteinu party who asserted that terrorists “who can reach Dimona can also reach Jerusalem and the rest of the country.”
Hamas Celebrates
Gaza-based Hamas spokesman Sami Zahari praised the suicide bombers and called on terrorists to carry out more attacks. He commented that it was “a natural reaction to Israeli escalation” and said it proved that Arabs “will continue to oppose Israel in every way, including with suicide bombings.”
Young PA Arabs gave out flowers and candy to passersby and danced in the streets in Rafiah to celebrate the attack.
The opinion offered by a Dimona firefighter on Voice of Israel government radio shortly after the blast was shared by many. The unidentified firefighter said he was not surprised that terrorists attacked the city, because of recent infiltration of terrorists from Egypt through Sinai following the destruction of the border barrier at Rafiah two weeks ago.
Palestinian Authority (PA) news agency Ramatan confirmed the assessment a short while later, reporting that the two bombers were Gaza residents, although no information was released about their identities or exactly where they crossed the border into Israel. The Fatah-sponsored Al Aksa Martyrs’ Brigades and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organizations claimed responsibility for the attack in a joint statement.
Hamas, however, later claimed that it was their terrorists who murdered the Israeli woman, after having reached Dimona from Hevron.