[2][3] It was carried out by an East Jerusalem-based Hamas cell whose members are serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prisons for that attack and others.

[4] The attack, which sparked a celebration in Gaza City,[5] was condemned by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and several countries.

[5] At lunchtime, the attacker placed the bomb on a table in the middle of the crowded cafeteria in the Frank Sinatra International Student Center on the university's Mount Scopus campus.

[8] In the minutes after the explosion, dazed, blood-spattered students emerged from the building; the air smelled of smoke and burnt flesh.

Israel deduced that Muhammad Odeh, a painter at the university, had carried out the attack due to his access from his ID card.

Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh, who later became the de facto Prime Minister of the Gaza Strip, said: "If they are going to attack our children, then they will have to expect to drink from the same poison.