An attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in August was planned and carried out under the supervision of the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ headquarters in Turkey, the Times of Israel reported on Tuesday, citing Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, and the Israeli police.
In a joint statement the two agencies said they had arrested and charged eight people accused of planning and carrying out the attack as well as another person accused of transporting the suicide bomber from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
The incident, which took place August 18, saw a man walk down a street in south Tel Aviv wearing a backpack containing a bomb, which then exploded, killing the terrorist instantly and moderately wounding a passerby.
If the bomb had not gone off outdoors, authorities said at the time, “it would have caused vast damage and multiple casualties.”
According to a statement from the police and Shin Bet, the attempted attack was carried out by Jaafar Muna, a Hamas operative from the West Bank city of Nablus.
He worked together with other terror operatives there, who maintained contact throughout the planning process with Abada Bilal, a senior official at Hamas headquarters in Turkey who directed the operation, the statement said.
One of the operatives traveled several times to Turkey, receiving funding and explosives training from Hamas members there, the investigation revealed.
The revelation has once again brought the Turkish government’s relations with Hamas into the spotlight.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a vocal critic of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory following Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, has often expressed support for the Palestinian group as defenders of their homeland and hosted them in Turkey.
Hamas is known to have had an office in Turkey since 2011, when Turkey helped secure the agreement for the group to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
“The findings of the investigation clearly indicate the establishment of Hamas headquarters in Turkey and their extensive efforts abroad to incite violence and carry out bombings in Israel,” Shin Bet and Israel Police said in their statement.
Erdoğan maintained close links with Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who was a frequent visitor to Turkey before his assassination in Tehran on July 31.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, among others.