Suicide Bomber Kills Three in Israel

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a shopping mall in this seaside town Tuesday, killing three other people, injuring dozens more and shattering a long stretch of comparative calm in the weeks before Israel’s expected pullout from the Gaza Strip.

The early-evening attack was the first of its kind since the end of February and battered an already shaky truce declared that month by Palestinian militant groups, which agreed to observe a period of quiet up through Israel’s evacuation of Jewish settlements in Gaza and the northern West Bank.

Israeli and Palestinian officials quickly condemned the bombing, describing it as an attempt to disrupt the withdrawal, scheduled to begin in mid-August.

“Once again we return to the same sights” of carnage, Yaacov Edri, Israel’s deputy minister of internal security, told reporters at a hospital where some of the wounded were taken. “It’s unbelievable, but we knew that there would be those who would try to sabotage the disengagement process.”

The Israeli government has insisted it would not withdraw under fire from Palestinian radicals, but officials said Tuesday that the pullout would go on as planned.

“Those who stand behind [the attack] are working against the Palestinian people. No sensible person can do such things on the eve of the withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank,” said Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. He promised harsh punishment for those behind the bombing.

A wing of the militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, calling the attack retaliation for Israel’s continued pursuit of the group’s members. But as of late Tuesday, the organization’s central leadership had not put out a formal statement affirming involvement, as it has in the past.

Of the main Palestinian armed factions, Islamic Jihad has long been considered the most likely to ignore the informal cease-fire because of its hard-line stance against Israel, its ties to Iran and Lebanon, and its loose command structure, which allows maverick cells to mount their own operations. The last suicide bombing, which killed five people outside a Tel Aviv nightclub Feb. 25, was the work of Islamic Jihad.

Tuesday’s bomber was identified as 18-year-old Mustafa Ahmed abu Khalil from the West Bank village of Atil, about 10 miles east of Netanya. The Al Jazeera satellite news channel aired a farewell videotape of Khalil in which the young man vowed vengeance against Israel.

There were also reports Tuesday night that Israeli forces had moved into Khalil’s community and neighboring Tulkarm, sealing off entrances to a city that had been handed over to Palestinian control just four months ago. Wire services said a Palestinian police officer was killed.

Earlier Tuesday, about 7 p.m., Khalil was among a knot of pedestrians crossing the street in front of the Sharon mall in Netanya, a coastal resort town. In the middle of the crosswalk, he detonated an explosive belt, spraying blood and flesh and radiating a flash of intense heat.

“I felt like a ball of fire was coming down from the sky. We weren’t sure what happened, and we ran into the mall,” said Adi Menashe, 16, who was heading into the shopping center to buy some balloons. “I saw people lying there. One lady had caught on fire.”

The explosion shattered the mall’s glass entrance and cracked the windows of nearby cars. Two women were declared dead at the scene, a third victim died soon afterward and the number of injured topped 60, including a grandmother, daughter and toddler from the same family who were all seriously wounded, authorities said.

Police at the scene speculated that Khalil had intended to enter the mall but was perhaps deterred by the presence of security guards.

The shopping center was the target of a similar bombing in 2001 that killed several Israelis. Since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, nearly five years ago, Netanya has been a prime target for terrorist attacks because of its proximity to the West Bank. A devastating suicide bombing at a Netanya hotel during Passover in 2002, which killed 29 Israelis, helped trigger a major Israeli offensive in the West Bank.

“Unfortunately, we are trained for this kind of attack,” Miriam Fireberg, the mayor of Netanya, said grimly of the swift police and paramedic response Tuesday. Fireberg was sitting in a car on the other side of the intersection where the blast occurred, the force of which blew her vehicle off the ground, said her driver, Yigal Rubin.

No large-scale retaliation by Israel is expected, in part because the government is scrambling to get ready for the Gaza pullout and because the other Palestinian militia groups, such as Hamas, have signaled their willingness to abide by the cease-fire.

But Israeli officials repeated their demands that Abbas disarm the militants, something the Palestinian leader has been loath to do for fear of igniting civil war among the feuding factions, including his own Fatah party.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, noted that the bomber came from an area outside Tulkarm that is still under Israeli security control. He blamed Tuesday’s attack on rogue elements bent on complicating, rather than sinking, the Gaza pullout, and on clouding the prospect of revived peace talks.

“They want a disengagement, but they don’t want it to be smooth, coordinated and peaceful, so that they can say that they got the Israelis out through their suicide bombers and violence,” Erekat said.

“They don’t want any meaningful dialogue between the two sides.”

A meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening between Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. officials to discuss the withdrawal was canceled after the blast.

Besides the Netanya attack, Islamic Jihad also appeared responsible for an unsuccessful car bombing just minutes before in the Jewish settlement of Shavei Shomron, in the West Bank. Police are investigating the possibility that the two incidents were planned to take place almost simultaneously.

Chu reported from Jerusalem and Simhi from Netanya.