Saturday, October 4. This followed shortly after up to 20 people were killed in the coastal town of Haifa, one of the deadliest suicide attacks in Israel in three years of violence.
The bombing that rocked Maxim’s, a restaurant located at the edge of the city on the beachfront came on the day before the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
Jerusalem News Wire, JNW, (www.jnewswire.com) a well informed independent Christian news agency, said 7 children were among those killed in the blast, which also injured more than 50 others.
The explosion happened after a female suicide bomber, described as a Palestinian Arab, detonated an explosive charge strapped to her body after she walked into the center of the restaurant, several news reports said.
BLOODIED PEOPLE
Israeli television footage showed rescue workers desperately trying to make their way through the shattered establishment, and bloodied people being wheeled on stretchers through corridors in two of the Haifa hospitals.
Shortly after the lunchtime suicide attack, Israeli helicopters were seen firing missiles at an empty home near the beach in Gaza City and at a house belonging to an Islamic Jihad leader in the Boureij refugee camp in central Gaza, the Associated Press (AP) quoted witnesses as saying.
There were no immediate reports of other casualties.
MORE ATTACKS
There were signs that more army attacks were likely as Israeli media reported that security sources said Israel would react "harshly to the attack," the Voice of America (VOA) network reported.
Israeli stepped up security in advance of the Yom Kippur holiday, which begins at sundown on Sunday. Reporters said entry to Israel from the Palestinian areas has been closed as a precaution.
Such measures are generally taken during Jewish holidays, because of increased concerns about attacks by Palestinian militants during such periods. Saturday’s attack was the first suicide bombing since 15 people were killed early in September, near an army base outside Tel Aviv, and at a Jerusalem coffee shop.
ARAFAT
After those bombings, Israel threatened to "remove" Yasser Arafat, with some officials saying this could include the killing of the Palestinian leader. On Saturday, a member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Cabinet, Health Minister Danny Naveh, said Israel should seize this opportunity to get rid of Arafat, VOA reported.
AP quoted Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled as saying that Israel expected Arafat to take swift action against the militants. The Palestinian leader "will have to come up with something very, very different or serious this time to get off the hook,” Peled said. "The next 24 to 48 hours are crucial for the future of the … peace process.”
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the attack, and appealed to the quartet of international Mideast mediators – the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations – "to exert every possible effort in order to ensure de-escalation," reports said.
BUSH CONDEMNS
United States President George W. Bush condemned "the despicable attack” and said Palestinian authorities must take responsibility for stopping terrorism.
However "the world will have to accept our decisions,” Ehud Olmert, Israel’s vice premier said before the meeting, according to news reports.
Haifa, traditionally considered a city where the Jewish Arab residents live in harmony side by side, has been hit by a number of suicide bombings since the collapse of the Oslo "Peace" Process three years ago, JNW said.
EARLIER BOMBINGS
In March this year a bomber targeted a bus loaded with students, killing 15 people and wounding more than 30. In March 2002, 14 people were murdered and 30 were wounded when a terrorist blew himself up in the Matza Restaurant.
On December 2, 2001, a suicide bomber detonated nail-studded explosives on a bus in the city, killing 15 people.
