In 2004, the year in which the attack was carried out, the second intifada was declining, and then the tensions escalated in March 2004, with the assassination of the leader of Hamas Ahmed Yassin.

The force of the explosion, which blew away and mutilated the limbs of many civilians, made it difficult for the authorities to identify the victims.

A video tape released after the attack by Hamas showed the two suicide bombers, Nassem Jabari (22) and Ahmad Qawasameh (26), posing with rifles and posters.

[6] The Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom placed the blame on Yasser Arafat for not preventing the attacks, and for bringing nothing but "terror and evil" since his return to the Palestinian territories.

[12] On September 26, 2004, Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil, a senior member of Hamas' military wing, was killed in a car bombing in the al-Zahera district of southern Damascus, Syria.