Blast at Israel Bus Station Hurts 10

by IBRAHIM BARZAK

NETZARIM JUNCTION, Gaza Strip (AP) -- A car exploded Friday near a bus in the main bus station of the central Israeli town of Hadera, and at least 10 people were injured, police said.

There were unconfirmed reports that the explosion was set off by a Palestinian assailant who died in the attack.

It was the second apparent attack of the day: Hours earlier, a Palestinian truck sped toward an Israeli army post in the Gaza Strip and exploded under Israeli fire. The Islamic militant group Hamas said that incident was a suicide attack marking the anniversary of Israel's troop withdrawal from Lebanon.

The car explosion went off in the early afternoon in Hadera, a working-class town just north of Tel Aviv. Few details were immediately available about the explosion, which came a week after a suicide bombing at a shopping mall in the northern coastal town of Netanya which killed five Israelis and the assailant.

In the earlier Gaza incident, there were no casualties among Israeli troops. Hamas said the driver was killed and identified him as Hussein Nasser. The group said it had filmed the attack and would distribute the footage -- a practice reminiscent of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.

The army sealed off the area around the Netzarim junction along Gaza's main north-south road after the truck attack. It did not confirm what happened to the driver.

Hezbollah fought Israeli troops in southern Lebanon during Israel's 18-year military entanglement there, and during eight months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting it has deepened cooperation with Hamas, based in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon on May 24, 2000. The hasty pullback has been cited by many Palestinians as an incentive for waging their eight-month uprising against Israel.

In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas military wing Izzedine al Qassam said it carried out the attack to mark the anniversary of the pullout.

''We send our best regards to our brothers in Hezbollah, and we renew our congratulations on the first anniversary of liberation,'' the leaflet said.

The Israeli army said the Gaza incident began when Israeli army vehicles blocked the Netzarim junction to Palestinian traffic to enable Israeli vehicles to pass. The truck drove around the Israeli roadblock, made a turn and headed at high speed down the access road to the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, the army said.

Troops fired at the truck, which exploded several yards from the gate of the heavily fortified Netzarim army post, the army said. Palestinian witnesses said black smoke rose into the air.

After the blast, Palestinian police fired from a nearby position at the Israeli soldiers, the army said. The Netzarim junction has been a frequent flash point.

Palestinian officials said that in response to the blast, Israeli tanks shelled a nearby Palestinian police station, and that three officers were injured by shrapnel.

Tanks, bulldozers and armored vehicles entered Palestinian territory in two areas -- near Netzarim and near the Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel, Palestinian police said. Bulldozers erected embankments, witnesses said.

In southern Gaza, Israeli troops fired from tank-mounted machine guns at the Rafah refugee camp, Palestinian police and witnesses said. There was no immediate army comment.

The latest flare-up came at a time of stepped-up international efforts to halt Mideast violence.

The diplomatic push began this week with the release of a truce plan proposed by an international commission headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell.

President Bush called Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon earlier this week and urged them to take steps to end the fighting that has derailed years of painstaking peace negotiations. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also spoke with Sharon on Wednesday, while Arafat met in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac.

In addition, Sharon declared a unilateral cease-fire Tuesday, saying Israeli troops would only respond in ''life-threatening'' situations. But the Palestinians rejected Sharon's move as a public relations exercise and the clashes have persisted.

Since the outbreak of fighting in late September, at least 475 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 85 on the Israeli side.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001