A middle-aged man with short hair and the glasses of a diligent student in jeans and a t-shirt walked quietly down Lehi Street in Tel Aviv on Sunday, August 18, a blue backpack slung over his shoulders. The evening was calm, despite the expectation of the outcome of negotiations that could lead to a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but also of possible reprisals by Iran and Hezbollah after the targeted assassinations committed by Israel in Tehran and Beirut, at the end of July – including the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, originally from Gaza.

Suddenly, at number 97 Lehi Street, a powerful explosion pulverized the man carrying the bag and echoed down the street, slightly injuring a passerby. An attack or a settling of scores? The Israeli police and the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence service, considered it "terror attack involving a powerful explosive device." Later, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in a joint statement, claimed responsibility for "Sunday night's suicide attack in Tel Aviv," although the assailant appears to have missed, the bomb having exploded in a deserted street.

But the statement came with a threat: "Suicide bombings in the occupied interior [the expression used by Hamas to designate Israel] will return to the forefront, as long as the occupation's massacres, displacement of civilians, and the continuation of the assassination policy continue." In other words: Attacks of this kind will continue as long as the war in Gaza lasts, and the systematic targeting of cadres of Palestinian armed groups, in the enclave or elsewhere, continues.

Regarding the Tel Aviv explosion, Israeli police speculate that a nearby synagogue may have been the attacker's target. Despite the absence of specific warnings of future attacks, police presence has been stepped up in the city. At this stage of the investigation, many details are still missing, in particular about the background of the explosives carrier, who has no known criminal or terrorist history; he has left no testimony as to why he did it, contrary to the usual modus operandi. A senior police officer told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the device was "unlike anything we've seen for years in our district."

The failed attack raises the specter of the numerous suicide attacks of the Second Intifada in the early 2000s. During that decade, nearly half of the 1,200 or so people killed were in suicide attacks, according to researcher Yoram Schweitzer, head of terrorism and low-intensity conflict at the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank.

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