Alert passersby identified a potential security threat at a bus stop on Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Street, near Dizengoff Center, one of the city's top shopping spots.
Security forces were quick to deploy around the suspicious object, and blocked off traffic on all sides. A robot was used to find out the nature of the threat. It turned out to be the empty cartridge of an old illumination mortar bomb, which did not pose any real threat.
The event occurred at about 1:00 PM. The cartridge was taken to an explosives lab for further analysis.
Police sources said they were not sure who placed the object at the place where it was found, and why. Terrorists often use dummy threats to observe Israeli security forces' patterns of deployment. They praised the public's alertness and asked people to continue to report any suspicious object.