Israel blamed the Hamas-led Palestinian Government yesterday for a Tel Aviv suicide bombing but acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided against a proposed military offensive for the time being, a political source said.

Under pressure not to imperil US-led efforts to isolate the Islamic militant group's new government, Olmert had convened his interim cabinet and security chiefs to discuss a response to Monday's attack at a sandwich bar which killed nine people.

"Olmert heard the defence establishment's ideas for possible strikes against the Palestinian Authority, and though the government is responsible, the decision was that there should be more limited action for now," a political source said.

Among measures authorized was the revocation of the Israeli residency status of Hamas officials living in East Jerusalem and a police crackdown on the smuggling of Palestinians without permits, who could be militants, into the Jewish state.

Hamas, which has largely abided by a year-long truce but refuses to embrace peacemaking efforts, has stirred Israeli and Western ire by describing Monday's attack claimed by kindred militant group Islamic Jihad as an act of "self defence".

A French-Israeli citizen was among the nine people killed in the suicide bombing, and a French tourist was among the injured, the French Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

The French victim had been living in Israel for a long time, ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said. He gave no other details.

Yesterday, Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli actions had triggered the attack.

"The reason behind this cycle is the continuation of the occupation and the continued Israeli assaults against the Palestinian people," Haniyeh said before a routine cabinet meeting.

Olmert declared the Palestinian Authority, formed under 1993 interim accords, a "terrorist" entity after Hamas won January elections. But Israel has refrained from assaults on the Palestinian Authority's new leadership or institutions.

Source: China Daily