Anyone in Israel knows NEVER to leave your bags unattended. That's plain stupidity. I would NEVER EVER leave my bag with my MacBook Pro ANYWHERE, regardless even of the security considerations of the country I live in. It is simply too important. Just for this neglect, she deserves her MacBook shot 🙂
About the procedure itself, it is standard procedure. They clear the area completely, in a pretty large radius. Then they use a robot armed with a Shotgun, they drive it all the way to the suspected bag, and shoot it. The gun used is some kind of an improvised Shotgun, that's why the bullet holes are so big.
Needless to say, people who are evacuated, are kinda pissed off about the stupid idiot who left the bag unattended. And there is NO way ANY official employee in Israel, or even any Israeli, would tell anyone to leave a bag unattended. There are places where you can store your bag for a tiny fee (around 2 Euros or less).