Yesterday's suicide bombing attack on a bus in Jerusalem is an atrocity for which there is no justification, Human Rights Watch said today.
According to news reports, the Palestinian armed group Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing, which killed at least nineteen Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more.
"Yet again, suicide bombers have deliberately targeted civilians-this time a crowded rush hour bus carrying schoolchildren and office workers starting their day," said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "When Palestinian groups violate the most basic international law in order to draw attention to their own plight, revulsion is the only appropriate response; any other message is lost."
Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called on Palestinian leaders to stop the attacks and bring those responsible to justice.
Yesterday's attack is the most deadly since a March 27 suicide bombing in Netanya that killed twenty-eight people at a Passover meal. Hamas also claimed responsibility for that attack.
