At least four people were killed and 30 more were wounded by a suicide bomber in an open-air market in the heart of Israel’s commercial capital, Tel Aviv, on Monday, medical and security sources said.
“We have identified five bodies. One of them belongs to a male suicide bomber who appears to have acted alone,” Tel Aviv police chief David Tzuri told a news conference.
Seven people were critically wounded in the explosion, he added.
The blast ripped through the Hacarmel market in the centre of the Mediterranean coastal city, an area dotted with bars and cafés. Police immediately sealed off the market for fear of a secondary explosion.
Most of the victims were rushed to hospital in Tel Aviv as firefighters arrived to control the blaze caused by the blast.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine carried out the suicide bombing, one of its members said.
It is the first such attack in more than two months, following twin suicide bus bombings in the southern city of Beersheva on August 31 that killed 15 Israeli passengers.
It is also the first attack since Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, accused by the Israelis of giving the green light to attacks by militants, was flown to Paris for treatment for what is believed to be a blood disorder.
There have been hopes that Arafat’s departure from his West Bank headquarters on Friday could galvanise the peace process.
Israeli sources have said that the military planned to carry out only “limited” operations against Palestinian militants for the time being, in order not to exacerbate tensions.
In Arafat’s absence, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei has been placed in overall charge of the Palestinian Authority, and former premier Mahmud Abbas is heading up the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Arafat’s dominant Fatah faction.
Qorei was hosting a meeting of his Cabinet on Monday morning where the implications of Arafat’s absence were expected to be thrashed out.
Palestinian officials in Paris voiced optimism about Arafat’s health, saying there was “clear improvement” in his condition.
The frail 75-year-old Palestinian leader was undergoing a battery of tests at the Percy military hospital in the south-western Paris suburb of Clamart to determine the nature of what is believed to be a serious blood disorder.
“There is a clear improvement,” a senior official from the Palestinian delegation said. “His condition is stable.”
While Israel is itself closely studying the implications of Arafat’s poor health, officials have been not to be seen to be interfering.
“Israel has no intention of interfering in the choice of his successor,” President Moshe Katsav said on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom also told CNN that Israel is hoping for a moderate leader to emerge but did not want to identify anyone for fear of him being labelled a “collaborator”.
However, many in Israel are keeping their fingers crossed that Abbas can cement his apparent position as heir apparent. The 69-year-old met on a number of occasions with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during his brief tenure as prime minister last year.
Sharon has not held any talks with the Palestinian leadership since Abbas quit last September and has instead pursued a unilateral “disengagement” plan, which should see Israel pull all its troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip next year.
Some opponents had been hoping that the possibility of a new Palestinian leadership might prompt Sharon to halt his disengagement plan, which won parliamentary approval last week.
However, Sharon has resisted any temptation to take a pause and MPs were set to start debating draft legislation on Monday that will compensate settlers who are forced to evacuate their homes.
The Bill, which will be put to the vote on Wednesday, lays out compensation packages for 8 000 settlers from the 21 settlements in Gaza and four isolated settlements in the West Bank that the government has vowed to dismantle.
Its total budget of $900-million also covers the cost of hauling out Israeli troops who have occupied the Gaza Strip for 37 years. — AFP