BAT YAM, Israel — Three empty buses exploded on the southern edge of Tel Aviv in Bat Yam on February 20, 2025, in what Israeli police said was a suspected terror attack.
The explosions happened late on Thursday night in an area where buses were parked. Police said there were no casualties because the vehicles were empty at the time, but they also said devices on two other buses failed to explode. That immediately raised the stakes of the investigation, because it suggested a larger plan may have been underway and that the outcome may have depended on timing rather than a lack of intent.
Police publicly warned the public to stay alert for suspicious bags and objects while bomb-disposal teams and investigators searched the city. One senior police spokesman said it was possible the timers on the explosives went off at the wrong hour, causing the buses to blow up while they were empty. Another police commander said the devices appeared similar to ones previously found in the West Bank, where Israeli forces have been carrying out months of raids against militants.
Local media reported that one of the unexploded devices carried a message referring to “Revenge from Tulkarm,” apparently linking the incident to a recent Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the northern West Bank. The Palestinian militant group Tulkarm Brigade released a statement saying revenge for the martyrs would not be forgotten, but it did not claim responsibility for the attack. That left the question of authorship open even as the political symbolism became clearer.
The response was immediate and political. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to carry out an intensive operation against centres of terrorism in the West Bank. That step shows how quickly the attack was folded into the wider confrontation between Israeli forces and militant groups operating in or around the occupied territory. The evidence packet does not say whether any arrests had been made, only that the investigation was active and that the devices were being compared with others found before.
The scene in Bat Yam itself underscored how close the attack came to causing casualties. Social media footage showed one bus on fire and smoke rising into the night sky. The fact that the buses were empty may have saved lives, but it also produced a narrow and troubling conclusion: whoever planted the devices appears to have planned for mass harm, and the only reason there were no dead or injured may have been bad timing.
This is why the incident matters beyond the small stretch of street where it happened. A suspected bombing that leaves no casualties can still shape national security policy, revive fears of a wider campaign and prompt a hardening of the state response. In this case, the attack appears to have been designed to do exactly that. The devices were planted, two failed to detonate, three did, and police were left racing to establish whether the incident was isolated or part of a broader pattern.
For the public, the immediate message was simple: the buses were empty this time, but the investigation is not. Bat Yam became the latest point where transport infrastructure, militant messaging and the politics of the West Bank collided in a few frightening minutes.
