A suspected Palestinian suicide bomber killed at least three people and injured dozens more in Tel Aviv's main market today.
The Tel Aviv fire brigade said at least four people were dead after the explosion in the Carmel market in the centre of the city. An Israeli security source said it appeared one of the dead was the suicide bomber.
The ambulance service said another 30 people were wounded.
The blast coincided with the start of a parliamentary debate on a bill offering compensation to Jewish settlers slated for evacuation from the Gaza Strip under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from the Palestinians.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, three days after an ailing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was flown from his West Bank headquarters to a hospital near Paris for tests.
Palestinian cabinet minister Mr Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian Authority "condemned this attack, as we have always condemned previous attacks that targeted civilians".
The last such attack was on September 22nd, when a Palestinian woman suicide bomber blew herself up at a central intersection in Jerusalem, killing two Israeli border policemen.
Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians last night. The Israeli army said troops shot dead one gunman, then chased and killed another who tried to infiltrate the Kfar Darom settlement in the central sector of the coastal strip after dark.
Earlier soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian in the northern West Bank town of Jenin during a gunbattle as the troops were searching for militants.