Mother of two kills four Israelis in suicide attack

A PALESTINIAN mother-of-two blew herself up yesterday at the main crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing at least four Israelis and wounding seven other people.

It was believed to be the first time the Islamic militant group Hamas has sent a female suicide bomber, possibly signalling a change in tactics that could expand its anti-Israeli campaign.

Meanwhile, an Israeli soldier was charged for the April shooting of a British activist who was protesting Israeli operations in Gaza.

The 22-year-old activist, Tom Hurndall, died on Tuesday night in a London hospital after nine months in a vegetative state. An Israeli military official said the charges against the soldier could be elevated to manslaughter.

The bomber set off the explosion at the Erez Crossing, in the area where thousands of Palestinian labourers pass every day through a network of fences and security checks to go from the Gaza Strip to jobs in Israel. Four of the wounded were Palestinians.

The bomber told soldiers at the crossing point that she would set off a metal detector because she had an implant from surgery to repair a broken leg. She was then ushered to a special room for a security search, said Major Sharon Feingold, a military spokeswoman.

The bomber, identified as Gaza resident Reem Raiyshi, 21, had two small children and was a Hamas activist.

Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin said the use of a woman bomber was unique, but added that holy war “is an obligation of all Muslims, men and women”.

Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, issued a joint claim of responsibility.

Islamic Jihad, the other main Islamic fundamentalist group leading attacks against Israelis, and the secular Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade have used women for suicide attacks in the past. But Hamas, the largest group, has until now stayed away from the tactic.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia declined to condemn the attack, saying that continued Israeli attacks and restrictions on the Palestinians are leading “to more escalation on both sides”.

The Gaza Strip is surrounded by an Israeli security barrier. In the past three years of fighting, only one of the more than 100 suicide bombers has infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip.

But there have been several attacks at the Erez crossing. Israeli soldiers shut down the crossing after the blast. A government spokesman suggested the crossing would remain closed.

The suicide bombing came on the heels of a West Bank ambush late on Tuesday in which Palestinian gunmen killed a Jewish settler in a car at the entrance to the Talmon settlement near the West Bank city of Ramallah. The 28-year-old victim was the father of five.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian gunmen in a firefight along the Gaza-Egypt border.

The army said the soldiers were returning fire.

Hurndall, the British activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was shot in the forehead on April 11 while photographing the work of his fellow activists in Gaza’s Rafah refugee camp.

On Monday, Israel’s military prosecutor filed a six-count indictment against an Israeli soldier that included a clause for intent to cause injury to Mr Hurndall.

The soldier was not named. On March 16, an American member of ISM was killed when she was run over by a military bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, near where Hurndall was shot. Israeli authorities have arrested and deported a number of members of the group.