Palestinians barred from West Bank roads
The Israeli military has tightened travel restrictions in the wake of the weekend's devastating suicide bomb attacks.
25 people died and more than 200 were injured in the blasts.
Palestinians have been barred from driving on most West Bank roads.
The Defence Ministry said the army would take ‘‘a series of steps’’ and that this was ‘‘a critical test’’ for the Palestinian Authority.
A US envoy in the region, Anthony Zinni, denounced the attacks as the ‘‘lowest form of inhumanity’’, but said the violence must not derail his efforts to arrange an Israeli-Palestinian truce.
Yesterday, the bomber in Haifa - identified as Maher Habashi, a 21-year-old plumber from the West Bank town of Nablus - got on a crowded city bus, paid his fare, and within seconds detonated the nail-studded explosives belt strapped to his body, witnesses said.
‘‘The bus came down the hill ... and as it levelled out it blew up, it began to run off the road,’’ said witness Rachel Antebe.
The blast hurled bodies in the air and blew out the sides off the red-and-white bus.
‘‘I saw the driver of the bus, his face and body covered in blood. I heard people screaming in the bus. I will never forget it,’’ said Manal Masri, 32, an Arab resident of the mixed Arab-Jewish neighbourhood where the explosion went off.
Thirteen bus passengers and two pedestrians were killed, and about 40 bystanders were wounded, including 10 who were in serious condition, police said.
The attack the night before in Jerusalem came at an hour when the shops, cafes and bars of the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall were packed with teenage Israelis.
The two bombers detonated their nail-packed explosives while standing some 40 yards apart. The 10 victims ranged in age from 14 to 20, police said.
‘‘A lot of people were crying, falling, and there was the smell of burning hair,’’ said witness Eli Shetreet, 19.
Shortly after the suicide bombings, an explosion went off in a car parked near the mall.
In the West Bank, Palestinian gunmen wounded an Israeli driver near a Jewish settlement and a border guard in two shooting attacks.
In searches that followed the shooting of the border guard, the army said its troops killed a Palestinian gunman.
Officials in Mr Arafat’s Fatah party confirmed that one of its gunmen was killed in a shootout with army troops.
Palestinian officials accused Israel of provoking the latest upsurge of violence with its assassination of Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, the leader of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank.
Abu Hanoud - who had masterminded several suicide bombings in Israel - was killed on November 23, just days before Zinni arrived for his truce mission.
‘‘The assassination of Abu Hanoud ... provoked the response of the crazy people who did what they did,’’ said Rajoub, the Palestinian security chief in the West Bank.
A security official in the Gaza Strip said Mr Arafat has given orders to carry out mass arrests of Islamic militants and to confiscate illegal weapons. Those speaking out against ceasefire efforts would be muzzled, the official said.
In a statement, Palestinian security officials said the Palestinian Authority has banned unauthorised demonstrations and the use of mosques and loudspeakers for incitement or political propaganda purposes.
Since the fighting erupted in September last year, Israel has repeatedly complained that Arafat has done nothing to stop militants who have killed more than 230 Israelis in bombings and shootings.
More than 780 people have been killed on the Palestinian side.
