Hadera, Israel ? A 20-year-old Palestinian blacksmith blew himself up at a falafel stand in an open-air market Wednesday, killing five Israelis and wounding more than 30 in the deadliest attack in the country in more than three months.

The bombing stifled faint peace hopes following Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip. The blast also embarrassed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who only hours earlier had scolded militant groups for repeatedly violating a truce.

The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, saying the attack was to avenge the killing of its West Bank leader by Israeli forces this week.

The bomber struck while the market in the central town of Hadera was bustling a day after being closed for the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.

After the attack, the bloodied body of a man in his fifties lay on the ground among scattered fruits and mangled metal shards. Rescue workers covered other bodies with blankets, walking on pools of blood and shattered glass. A section of the falafel stand’s metal roof hung from a eucalyptus tree high above the market.

Raqaiah Abu Zeid holds a picture of her 20-year-old son, suicide bomber Hassan Abu Zeid, Wednesday at the family house in the West Bank town of Qabatiyeh. Zeid killed himself and five Israelis in the deadliest attack in Israel in more than three months. The Palestinian Islamic group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack came hours after Iran’s state-run media reported comments from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and saying a new wave of Palestinian attacks would destroy the Jewish state.

Recalling Iran’s history of support for Islamic Jihad, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev criticized Ahmadinejad’s statement and another from Mahmoud Zahar, a leader of the Hamas militant group in Gaza who threatened fresh violence against Israel.

“Today, Israelis heard two extremists speak openly about destroying the Jewish state. One was the new president of Iran, and the other was the leader of Hamas, Mahmoud Zahar. And it appears the problem with these extremists is that they followed through on their violent declarations with violent actions,” Regev told The Associated Press.

Abbas, in a speech before parliament, lashed out at the militants, saying they had no right to violate a February cease-fire. “No one has the right to respond here and there, unilaterally,” he said.

Later, Abbas condemned the suicide attack, saying: “It harms Palestinian interests and could widen the cycle of violence, chaos, extremism and bloodshed.”

“It is not permitted for anyone to take the law into their hands,” he added.

In a phone call to the AP, Islamic Jihad said the bombing was to avenge the killing of Luay Saadi, leader of the group’s military wing in the West Bank. Saadi died in a shootout with Israeli soldiers Monday.