Taoiseach Brian Cowen today blamed the Israeli blockade of Gaza for a commando assault on a flotilla of aid ships which left at least 15 people dead and scores injured.

NEW ZEALAND’S prime minister launched a blistering verbal attack and slapped diplomatic sanctions on Israel yesterday after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for illegally trying to obtain a New Zealand passport.

A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up aboard a crowded bus in the northern city of Haifa in Israel yesterday, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens in the first terrorist attack in two months, officials said.

The death toll in a suicide bombing on board a bus in Haifa in Israel rose to at least 12 people with dozens injured, some critically, officials said.

The United States has urged the Israel Government to allow Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to attend this week’s Arab League summit in Lebanon.