Hours after this morning's (Monday) blast in Holon's Giv'at Hen neighborhood, large forces from Tel Aviv District Police and the Tel Aviv Yama"r unit are continuing an intensive manhunt for the suspect in the explosion, who is known to police and linked to crime boss Yossi Musli.
The incident, which began in the early morning hours with a massive pipe-bomb explosion in a Holon yard, continues to occupy security forces and police investigators trying to piece together the chain of events that led to the blast, which ended with a 15-year-old boy injured after he happened to be in a sukkah at the site.
According to an evening report on Ynet, the investigation indicates the powerful explosion was likely caused by a pipe bomb that went off near the home of a relative of the intended target, who was not hurt at all. Immediately after the blast, which shook the neighborhood and reminded residents of a missile strike, a unusual scene unfolded: eyewitnesses reported that a scooter rider arrived quickly at the scene, picked up another man known to police, and the two fled the area in the confusion.
Since the morning hours, investigators have been working intensively to locate the suspect who fled, to clarify the circumstances of his presence at the site, and to examine the main suspicion that this was a criminal "work accident", meaning a device that exploded prematurely, before it could be activated against the target.
Meanwhile, the boy who was moderately injured by the force of the blast and shrapnel continues to receive medical treatment at Wolfson Hospital in the city, after being evacuated from the scene in serious condition with his body full of holes and shrapnel. Residents in the area, still recovering from the morning's shock, described the moments of terror and emphasized how a far worse disaster was narrowly avoided, as just minutes earlier a woman had passed through the area with three small children.
MDA paramedic Noam Barzani described the scene this morning after the incident: "We saw the boy conscious and suffering from serious injuries to his body. We provided him with life-saving medical treatment and evacuated him in an MDA intensive care ambulance to the hospital in serious condition."
The Holon incident joins a series of serious and unprecedented criminal events that have struck the country in recent months, including the use of stun grenades and LAU missiles in civilian residential areas. Tel Aviv District Commander Superintendent Haim Sargrof continues to hold ongoing situation assessments to apprehend those involved and restore quiet to the streets.
