...It was little surprise that the bomber came from a village near Jenin, one of the West Bank’s strongholds of Islamic militancy. From the Hammad home his family can see the olive groves and fertile valleys of Israel but feel nothing for its denizens save enmity.

Within hours of his death Hammad was a fully accessorised “martyr”, complete with farewell video, posters and heroic slogans. Sitting on the few cushions remaining in the small hilltop house his mother Samya, 42, complied with photographers who clamoured for her to pose with a poster, but the house was unadorned with militant propaganda.

“He was a hero and I am proud of Samir but I have suffered from his loss,” she said of her eldest son. “I have seen their soldiers killing our children and destroying our home, making everything bad, so how can I see them sympathetically or kindly?”

The family described Hammad as intelligent and frustrated by lack of opportunities, notably being forced to drop his studies with al-Quds (Jerusalem) Open University because his family had no money. His uncle, Imad, blamed his becoming a bomber on “psychological pressure” caused by the conflict.

Fatal blast? If somebody left the restaurant’s gas stove running by mistake, it might accurately be called a fatal blast, but not this.