Palestinian father denies Hamas claims son was behind Jerusalem bus bomb

Mohammad Abu Srour is the father of Abdel-Hamid Abu Srour. The pro-Hamas Palestinian Information Center said the younger Abu Srour was a member of the Kassam brigades.

By REUTERS
Father denies Hamas claims son was behind bus bomb
The father of the Palestinian who died in a Jerusalem bus bombing denied on Thursday that his son was affiliated with the Hamas Islamist group.
Mohammad Abu Srour is the father of Abdel-Hamid Abu Srour.
A pro-Hamas website identified the younger Abu Srour as the Palestinian militant from the West Bank who died from his wounds following a bomb which exploded on an Israeli commuter bus in Jerusalem on Monday.
The pro-Hamas Palestinian Information Center said Abu Srour was from the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem and said he was a member of the Kassam brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas militant Islamist group.
His father denies this.
"I was not expecting that my son would do such act. My son did not make me feel even for 1 percent, that he has feelings or thoughts like that. Never. I know that my son failed in one subject in his secondary schools exam and was preparing to take the exam again and pass it and focus on his future. This is the deal that we had together, me and him," Mohammad Abu Srour said from the family home in Bethlehem.
A spokeswoman from an Israeli hospital where the wounded man was treated did not identify the man by name but said he was a Palestinian militant.
Israeli authorities have placed a gag order on the investigation and declined to release any details.
The explosion blew up a bus, wounding 16 people, and caused a fire on a nearby bus. In a speech hours afterwards, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked the attack to a six-month-old wave of Palestinian street violence.
Israeli medical sources said six people wounded by the blast were still being treated in hospital, the rest had been released by late Wednesday.
After learning about his death, Palestinians in Bethlehem gathered on the streets on Wednesday, chanting his name and throwing sweets in the air as a symbolic celebration of what they say is his "martyrdom."
Suicide bombings on Israeli buses were a hallmark of the Palestinian revolt of 2000-2005 but have been rare since. With Palestinians carrying out less organized stabbing, car-ramming and gun attacks since October, Israel has been braced for an escalation.
In the last half year, Palestinian attacks have killed 28 Israelis and two visiting US citizens. Israeli forces have killed at least 191 Palestinians, 130 of whom Israel says were assailants. Many others were shot dead in clashes and protests.
Factors driving the violence include Palestinian bitterness over stalled statehood negotiations and the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, increased Jewish access to a disputed Jerusalem shrine and Islamist-led calls for Israel's destruction.