Jerusalem - Like other Israeli shoppers, Alon Gonsherovsky on Tuesday felt scared for the first time in months after a suicide bomber killed nine people in Tel Aviv, the deadliest attack since 2004.
"The bombing was a sudden jolt and we are back to living on the edge again," said Gonsherovsky, 23, in Jerusalem's crowded Mahane Yehuda market.
It was the first Palestinian bombing inside Israel since militant Islamic group Hamas took power three weeks ago, and shattered a relative lull in violence.
But Israel has stepped up air strikes and artillery barrages against targets in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, responding to makeshift rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian militants.
Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, stirred Israeli and Western ire by calling Monday's suicide bombing an act of self-defence against what a spokesperson called "Israeli crimes against our people".
After acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened a meeting with his top advisers, Israel on Tuesday decided to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for the bombing, but not to authorise military action against the Hamas government.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the bombing as another blow to efforts to stem more than five years of bloodshed.
He demanded the arrest of those involved. Hamas, though, has vowed not to order the arrest of militants carrying out attacks against Israel.
Meanwhile, two cousins, working at the Tel Aviv Falafel restaurant, survived their second bombing ordeal at the restaurant.
Jachun Ismailov went back to work after a January bombing there to support his family, which has struggled since emigrating from Azerbaijan.
Lying in a hospital bed after the second bombing, the quiet 17-year-old said that, once again, he had no choice but to go back to work.
"If I don't work, who will pay the rent?" added his cousin, David Manshirov, 17, who was also injured in both bombings. - Reuters-Sapa-AP