Five people were killed today as Israeli warplanes and helicopters hit Hamas targets in four separate strikes.

A Palestinian woman wrapped in explosives blew herself up in a beachfront restaurant popular with Arabs and Jews, killing 19 bystanders, including four children.

A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up near an Israeli army vehicle in the Gaza Strip today, lightly injuring three soldiers.

IN A speech to the Palestinian parliament yesterday, Yasser Arafat condemned terror attacks on Israeli civilians, announced elections for early January and offered — apparently in jest — to give up executive powers.

Israeli forces were still surrounding Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and Yasser Arafat’s office in Ramallah today despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon saying the West Bank military assault was virtually over.