Palestinians and Israelis traded attacks Wednesday that left at least 24 people dead in one of the bloodiest days of their 32-month conflict that left US-sponsored peace hopes in tatters.
A Palestinian suicide bomb ripped through a Jerusalem bus, killing 16 people plus the bomber, police said. An hour later Israeli attack helicopters rained missiles on a car in Gaza City, killing seven people, Palestinian sources said.
The tit-for-tat carnage came a day after a failed Israeli attempt to kill Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, a senior leader of the radical Islamic group Hamas, and put a new nail in prospects for negotiating a ceasefire.
Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for the mid-afternoon suicide bombing that gutted a bus on a bustling street in central-west Jerusalem.
Israeli television said the bomber, disguised as an ultra-Orthodox Jew, stepped on the number 14 bus at the Mahane Yehuda market on Jaffa street and set off an explosive device filled with bolts and nails.
”The bus was torn to shreds. There was a massive blast, it’s a horrific scene,” one witness was quoted as saying by public radio after the worst suicide attack since 18 people died on a bus in Haifa on March 5.
The street, west Jerusalem’s main thoroughfare, has been by hit several Palestinian suicide attacks since the start of the intifada, or uprising, against Israeli in September 2000.
Thirteen of the victims were killed on the spot while three more died of their wounds in hospital or on their way there, medical and police sources said. Scores of people were wounded, including four in critical condition.
Hamas published a statement on its website claiming responsibility for the attack, while a spokesperson for the group said the bombing showed Palestinian groups could strike ”when and where” they wanted.
A short while later, seven Palestinians, including two members of Hamas’ armed wing, were killed when two Israeli Apache attack helicopters attacked a car in Gaza City’s eastern Shajayah neighbourhood, Palestinian medical and security sources said.
They said Massud Titi, a senior member of the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, and another member, Soheil Abu Nahel, were among those killed in the missile strike.
Two women were also killed and some 20 people wounded.
”Two missiles hit the car. I stopped my car to help them but the Israeli helicopters fired four more missiles at us,” said Mohammad, a Palestinian in his forties who was wounded in the attack.
”When they took the bodies out of the car, I cannot tell you how they looked. It was terrifying,” added Abu Raed Hmeid, who was one of the first to rush to the scene.
The attacks left all sides scrambling to patch up efforts to implement the international ”roadmap” for peace providing for confidence-building measures ahead of establishment of a Palestinian state in 2005.
The process was formally launched at a summit last week of US President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas.
Bush denounced the suicide bombing on Wednesday in a brief statement to reporters and urged ”all of the free world” to use ”every ounce of their power” to prevent such attacks in the future.
He earlier had delivered a milder, but rare rebuke, to Israel, saying he was ”troubled” by the helicopter gunship attack on Tuesday on Rantissi that left two people dead and a later raid in Gaza which killed another three people.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, in an unprecedented move for him, condemned the suicide attack as a ”terrorist” act and urged all Palestinian factions to immediately cease military operations against Israel.
”I call on Palestinian factions to take their responsibilities and avoid taking the path on which Israel is trying to push them in order to destroy the roadmap,” he told Palestinian television.
Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas also called for a ceasefire, while senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo urged the emergency dispatch of international monitors to the Middle East to rescue the peace process.
”We believe that there is a need for a quick implementation of the roadmap, because we don’t want all this process to be hostage to one terrorist attack or one explosion or one assassination,” Abed Rabbo told CNN.
The suicide bombing came with Israel bracing for reprisals after its attack on Rantissi, which drew criticism from around the world as well as from the Israeli press and opposition groups.
But Sharon spokesperson Raana Gissin insisted the bombing was not linked to the failed assassination attempt.
”Even before there was any attempt at (Abdul Aziz) Rantissi we had an unprecendented wave of terrorist attacks planned and perpetrated,” he told CNN.
Gissin said Israel was committed to peace ”but this attack today is another grim reminder that without real concerted effort to stop terrorist activity, both people … cannot move forward on the roadmap.” – Sapa-AFP