An Islamic resistance group Hamas leader in the West Bank held Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon responsible for a suicide bombing attack in southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva on Sunday.

Sheikh Hassan Yousef told reporters that the ongoing Israeli violence against the Palestinian people resulted in the bombing which wounded at least 21 Israelis, two of them seriously.

Yousef said that there has been an obvious increase in Israeli crimes against the Palestinians in violation of a ceasefire between the two sides.

A Jewish settler shot dead three Palestinian workers in the West Bank settlement of Shiloh on Aug.17 in a bid to disrupt the Gaza pullout.

Israeli troops killed five Palestinians, three of them members of the militant group Islamic Jihad (holy war), in a raid on the refugee camp of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank.

"We have warned that the Palestinian people would certainly respond to these attacks," Yousef said.

Meanwhile, a senior Islamic Jihad leader said the suicide bombing attack was a natural response to the Zionist crimes against the Palestinians.

Khaled al-Batsh told reporters such crimes would never pass without punishment by the Palestinian resistance forces which had fulfilled pledge to revenge and managed to reach their targets regardless of the barrier walls Israel is building in the West Bank and other security measures.

However, no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack in Be'er Sheva.

It is the first such attack in Israel since the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the northern Israeli city of Netanya in April.

It is also the first such attack since Israel finished evacuation of all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank last Tuesday under the plan to disengage from conflict with the Palestinians.

All the Palestinian militant groups agreed in March to maintain calm or ceasefire reached between Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Sharon in February but reserve right to strike back any Israeli attack.

"Calm (truce) has to be mutual. For our part, all Palestinian militant groups showed commitment to calm, but the Zionist side continued violating it," said al-Batsh.

Source: Xinhua