A 15-year-old boy who was seriously wounded when a powerful explosive device detonated outside a home in Holon on Monday morning appears to have been an innocent bystander who happened to be sitting in a nearby sukkah, as police launched an intensive manhunt for a suspect with alleged ties to a major organized crime group.
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The blast rocked the Jessie Cohen neighborhood in the early morning hours, prompting a major response by Tel Aviv District Police and the district’s central investigative unit. Investigators believe the explosive device was connected to an underworld dispute and was intended for a criminal target who was not injured.
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Police are searching for a suspect who is known to authorities and is reportedly close to reputed crime boss Yossi Mosli. Investigators are attempting to determine his role in the incident and exactly what happened in the moments leading up to the explosion.
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According to a report by Ynet, investigators believe the explosion was caused by a pipe bomb placed or handled near the home of a relative of the intended target.
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The force of the explosion was so powerful that residents initially compared the sound to a missile impact.
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Witnesses reported unusual activity immediately afterward. According to their accounts, a person riding an electric scooter quickly arrived at the scene, picked up another individual known to police, and the two fled amid the confusion following the blast.
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Police have been searching for the suspect since the morning, while investigators examine the possibility that the explosion was a criminal “work accident” — an explosive device that detonated prematurely while those involved were preparing it for use against the intended target.
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The 15-year-old boy had no apparent connection to the criminal dispute. He was reportedly inside a sukkah near the site of the explosion when he was struck by the blast and flying shrapnel.
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The teenager suffered numerous penetrating injuries and was initially evacuated from the scene in serious condition. His condition was subsequently described as moderate as he continued receiving treatment at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.
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Magen David Adom medic Noam Barazani described the teenager’s condition when emergency personnel reached him.
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“We saw the teenager conscious and suffering from serious injuries to his body. We provided him with lifesaving medical treatment and evacuated him in an MDA intensive care ambulance to the hospital in serious condition.”
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Residents said the explosion could easily have resulted in considerably more casualties. According to local accounts, a woman accompanied by three young children had passed through the area only minutes before the bomb exploded.
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Tel Aviv District Police Commander Maj. Gen. Haim Sargarof held continuing situation assessments as investigators searched for those involved and worked to determine whether the blast resulted from a prematurely detonated device.
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The Holon explosion came amid growing concern in Israel over increasingly powerful weapons being used in organized-crime disputes in residential areas, including fragmentation grenades and, in several recent cases, military-grade weapons such as LAW anti-tank rockets.

{Matzav.com}