Teenager Critically Injured in Holon Explosive Device Blast

A 15-year-old boy was seriously injured on Monday afternoon by the explosion of an explosive device in the yard of an apartment in the Jaffa Cohen neighborhood of Holon, a city in central Israel. Police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Investigators believe the intended target of the blast was an individual known to police who resides in the building where the explosion occurred. The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency medical service received a report of the incident at 12:11 PM. Paramedics evacuated the teenager to Wolfson Medical Center while he was conscious and suffering from severe injuries.

"We saw the teenager conscious and suffering from severe injuries to his body. We provided him with life-saving medical treatment and evacuated him in an MDA intensive care unit to the hospital with a serious condition," said MDA paramedic Noam Barzani.

Large police forces, including forensic investigators and bomb disposal experts, arrived at the scene to collect evidence. Police are also gathering testimonies and searching for suspects. The investigation has been assigned to the Tel Aviv District's Central Unit.

Eyewitnesses described the powerful explosion, with one neighbor stating, "The noise was as if a bomb had fallen here." Another resident noted that a woman with three young children had passed by the location shortly before the blast. A local council member described the incident as highly unusual for the typically quiet neighborhood, lamenting the broader wave of violence affecting the country.

This incident follows a similar event on Sunday, where a 16-year-old girl was moderately injured by a grenade thrown at a house in Ma'alot Tarshiha. The background to that incident is believed to be criminal.