Security has been increased throughout Jerusalem in the wake of an April 18 bus bombing that injured 21 people, including a Palestinian identified by Hamas as the suicide bomber.
The terrorist organization said on April 20 that the man who died earlier that evening in a Jerusalem hospital of wounds sustained in the bus bombing was the terrorist who placed the explosive device in the vehicle.
Hamas identified him as a 19-year-old Palestinian from al-Ayda refugee camp outside of Bethlehem. His name was barred from publication as of press time amid the ongoing Israeli investigation of the attack, which was still under gag order.
“Extra police units and border police are patrolling public areas,” Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the Times of Israel soon after the bombing.
Rosenfeld confirmed that police officers would question some of the wounded. One teenage girl remains in critical condition; the other victims had more moderate injuries.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the municipality said the bombing will not alter plans for the tens of thousands of Jewish visitors expected to visit the Old City for Passover, which begins at sundown on Friday, April 22.
The public bus was traveling in southern Jerusalem on April 18 when it exploded, engulfing the nearly empty vehicle in flames and scorching an adjacent bus and nearby car. The victims had burns on their upper bodies, as well as wounds from nails and ball bearings packed into the explosive device. — j. wire services