A high-intensity explosion ripped through southern Tel Aviv’s Lehi Road on Sunday night, leaving casualties and creating more panic among the already befuddled Israeli settlers.

The explosion came amid the uneasy anticipation of a retaliatory military operation over the assassination of top-ranking Axis of Resistance commanders in Tehran and Beirut that has paralyzed the Israeli regime and settlers in the past three weeks.

Several hours after the explosion took place, which immediately grabbed news headlines worldwide, the Israeli police and the Shin Bet military agency termed it a “suicide bombing.”

In a statement on Monday morning, police and Shin Bet said the explosion resulted from the “detonation of a powerful explosive device.”