A Palestinian suicide bomber killed two Israeli women and wounded some 30 other people at a shopping mall in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya late Tuesday, dealing a heavy blow to a tottering truce.

The attack took place at around 6:30 p.m. (1530 GMT) at the entrance to the Hasharon shopping mall which was crowded with shoppers at the time.

Two Israelis and the suicide bomber were killed and 30 others injured, some seriously.

Israeli police said that the bomber had apparently been wearing an explosive belt and that there had been no warning of a potential attack.

BLOW TO TRUCE

It was the first suicide attack in Israel after an Islamic Jihad member carried out a similar attack outside a night club in Tel Aviv on Feb. 25, killing five Israelis.

Violence has fallen sharply since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a cease-fire in February, although the truce has been punctured by Israeli raids as well as militant shootings and mortar attacks.

Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War), claimed responsibility on Tuesday evening for the suicide bombing attack.

A radio station run by the Islamic Jihad in Gaza identified the bomber as Ahmed Sami Abu Khalil, 18, from the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm. The radio said Abu Khalil was a Jihad member.

Later, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad said the suicide bombing in Netanya was responding to "the daily Israeli violation of the calmness or truce."

"Whoever carried out the attack, we consider it a natural response to the occupation forces' violations of calmness," said Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Jihad leader in Gaza.

About 40 minutes before the Netanya bombing, Israeli police in the West Bank foiled an attempted car bomb attack on the Shavei Shomron settlement, close to the Palestinian city of Nablus. Islamic Jihad also claimed responsibility for the attack.

Bent on the destruction of Israel, the Islamic Jihad has been active recently in the occupied Palestinian territories where Israel is expected to withdraw from Gaza and part of the West Bank.

Israel is scheduled to start implementing in mid-August its unilateral disengagement plan, under which all the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four smaller ones in the northern West Bank will be withdrawn.

A new surge of bloodshed could complicate Israel's plan to pull out of the occupied Gaza Strip.

In response to the bombing, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz canceled a meeting initially set for later Tuesday to discuss the Gaza withdrawal with a Palestinian cabinet minister and a US envoy.

Instead, Mofaz convened army commanders. Israel also is blockading the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period of time.

Meanwhile, sources at the Israeli prime minister's office said Israel will retaliate.

The Palestinian National Authority condemned the bombing attack, saying it was designed to derail Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

STRONG CONDEMNATION WORLDWIDE

Abbas strongly condemned the suicide attack , saying, "We consider this a terrorist action, a crime against the Palestinian people."

"No sensible person could do such a thing on the eve of the (Israeli) pullout from Gaza and the northern West Bank," Abbas said.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also condemned the bombing attack late Tuesday, saying it was aimed at sabotaging efforts to ensure a peaceful and smooth Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank due to begin in mid-August.

"We strongly condemn the attack and those who are behind it ... They staged this attack to upset efforts to ensure the coming Israeli Gaza withdrawal proceeds in a peaceful and coordinated way. They also want to hamper efforts to make the withdrawal a part of the road-map peace plan," he said.

The United States also fiercely denounced Tuesday's bombing attack in Israel and urged the Palestinian authorities to dismantle terrorist organizations

"We condemn in the strongest terms this vicious attack. There is no justification for the murder of innocent civilians," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said at a briefing.

"Terrorists are seeking to derail the peace efforts in the Middle East, and all parties must step forward and combat terrorism. The Palestinian Authority needs to act to dismantle terrorist organizations and to stop attacks from happening in the first place," the spokesman said.

The attack was also condemned by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said in a statement issued by UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric that he is unwavering in his conviction that "nothing can justify terror."

"Now and in the days ahead, it is critical that all measures be taken to ensure that such attacks do not reoccur, and that the admirable restraint recently observed be maintained so that the violence does not escalate," said the secretary-general.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council in a presidential statement also expressed its condemnation of the terrorist attack in Israel.

Source: Xinhua