MIDDLE EAST: Two Palestinian suicide bombers detonated their explosives one after the other in south Tel Aviv late last night, Israeli police said, and initial reports indicated that the blasts had killed at least five more people and injured 30. David Horovitz reports from Jerusalem
The twin bombings, near the city's old bus station in an area where thousands of foreign workers make their homes, came a day after eight Israelis were killed by Hamas gunmen who ambushed a bus outside a West Bank settlement.
A spokesman for Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, vowed that Israel would launch a "swift" response to the upsurge in attacks, which have come despite the Israeli army's current large-scale deployment across much of the West Bank.
Earlier last night, an Israeli fighter plane fired a missile at a foundry near the Maghazi refugee camp. The army said the building housed a Hamas weapons factory. There was no immediate word of casualties.
Near Nablus in the West Bank, meanwhile, Israeli troops were still searching for some of the gunmen involved in Tuesday's bus ambush outside the settlement of Emmanuel. Military officials named the leader of the Hamas cell responsible as Mr Nasr a-Sida, and alleged that he also commanded the cell that killed 11 Israelis in a near-identical attack, at almost exactly the same spot, last December.
Troops shot dead one of the Palestinian gunmen in a pre-dawn clash yesterday, in which an Israeli soldier was also killed.
Mr a-Sida was still believed to be hiding out in the rocky brush around Emmanuel, a settlement of 3,500 Jews whose traumatised residents yesterday buried their dead, retold the horrifying details of Tuesday's attack, and complained at what they called inadequate army protection.
"Whether we are a security asset or a liability," said the settlement's mayor, Mr Yisachar Frankenthal, "the government has an obligation to protect us." Israel's Defence Minister, Mr Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, visiting Emmanuel, vowed that "we will catch all of the terrorists", and promised millions of dollars to erect security fences around this and nearby settlements.
Locals complained to him, though, that the army had been deaf to their warnings that an attack was being planned. "We told them there was a group of Arabs coming to the area every day on a tractor, with walkie-talkies, staking us out," said an ultra-Orthodox resident named Itzik.
Although several Palestinian groups claimed immediate credit for the attack, it became clear yesterday that Hamas was responsible. Confirming this, Mr Mohammad a-Zahar, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said Israel's reinvasion of West Bank cities "will never stop the resistance".
The death toll, initially seven, rose to eight early yesterday morning when doctors gave up the battle to save the life of a baby, delivered by Caesarian section after its mother was hit by seven bullets. The bereaved mother, Ms Yehudit Weinberg, is still in serious condition.
Among the dead was another baby, eight-month-old Tiferet Shilon, whose grandmother was also killed. The baby's mother, Ayelet, who was badly injured, called her husband, Gal, from the bus to say it had been attacked. As he ran to their aid from the settlement, he too was shot dead. Survivors said yesterday they had been trapped in the bus for 15 minutes at the mercy of the gunmen, hiding under the seats to avoid gunfire.
Meanwhile the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, indicated yesterday that he did intend to stand again for the position in elections scheduled for January. He also intimated that he was considering appointing a prime minister, in a move designed to placate US demands for the replacement of the current PA leadership.