Netanyahu orders West Bank military operation after Israel bus blasts

(CNN) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israel’s military to conduct an operation in the occupied West Bank after three empty buses exploded in a suspected terror attack near Tel Aviv on Thursday.

No casualties were reported and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, which occurred when explosive devices planted on the empty vehicles detonated in quick succession in the cities of Bat Yam and Holon, south of Israel’s financial center.

In Bat Yam, two bombs exploded on buses parked in a depot, authorities said. A third blast was reported in Holon from an explosive device planted on a third bus.

Photos from Bat Yam showed two burned out buses in the depot and forensics personnel working at the scene.

Meanwhile, an explosive device that did not detonate was discovered on a fourth bus, police said.

Israel stepped up security and halted bus and train operations across the country following the blasts, which a statement from Netanyahu’s office called an “attempt to perpetrate a chain of mass bus bombings.”

After meeting with the defense minister, the head of the Israel Defense Forces and top security and police officials, Netanyahu “ordered the IDF to carry out an intensive operation against centers of terrorism,” in the West Bank, according to the statement.

“The Prime Minister also ordered the Israel Police and the (Israel Security Agency) to increase preventative activity against additional attacks in Israeli cities,” it added.

The bus blasts came just hours after Palestinian militant group Hamas returned four bodies purported to be hostages held in Gaza since its October 7, 2023 attack.

The bodies were handed over as part of a ceasefire deal enacted last month that has appeared shaky in recent weeks as Israel and Hamas accused each other of violations.

Israel on Thursday accused Hamas of violating the deal by returning remains in one casket that were found not to match with any hostage.

West Bank reinforcements

Following the bus blasts, the Israeli military said it would deploy three additional battalions to the West Bank on Friday morning.

“The IDF continues to conduct ongoing situational assessment and is prepared to expand offensive activity,” it said in a statement.

Since Hamas’ October 7 attack, Israel has engaged in an increasingly militarized campaign that it says targets West Bank militants, employing tactics like airstrikes that were once nearly unheard of there.

The Israel Defense Forces launched a major campaign - “Operation Iron Wall” - focused on the northern West Bank last month, just two days after the Gaza ceasefire began, saying it was aimed at eliminating “terrorists and terror infrastructure” and at “ensuring terrorism does not return” following its completion.

The operation has displaced at least 40,000 Palestinians in the northern West Bank from their homes, according to the UN.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, warned last week that the forced displacement of Palestinian communities in the northern West Bank had been escalating at an “alarming pace.”

The agency said the West Bank had suffered 38 airstrikes this year alone, with advanced weaponry and controlled detonations becoming more commonplace, marking a “spillover of the war in Gaza.”

CNN’s Kareem Khadder and Irene Nasser contributed reporting.

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