EREZ CROSSING, GAZA STRIP -- A Palestinian mother of two blew herself up yesterday at the Israel-Gaza border, killing three Israeli soldiers and a private security guard and signalling a new tactic by Hamas fighters, who had never before dispatched a woman suicide bomber. Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin said the use of a woman bomber was unique for the Islamic group, but holy war "is an obligation of all Muslims, men and women."
Israel said it will temporarily close the crossing to Palestinians, preventing thousands of workers from travelling to a nearby Israeli-Palestinian industrial zone that is one of the last vestiges of co-operation between the two peoples after more than three years of violence in which thousands have been killed.
The army said four of the seven wounded in the attack were Palestinians.
The bombing came as efforts to restart peace negotiations remained stalled, with Israel's leaders threatening to impose a new boundary between Israel and the Palestinians if no progress is made soon.
Meanwhile, a British man shot in the head by Israeli troops in Gaza Strip last April died Tuesday after nine months in a comatose state, his family said yesterday. Tom Hurndall, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, was trying to help children out of the path of a tank in the Rafah refugee camp when he was shot.
At the Erez crossing yesterday, a woman identified as Reem Raiyshi, 22, told soldiers checking Palestinians she would set off a metal detector because she had an implant to repair a broken leg. She was taken for a security search to a special room, where she set off the bomb, said Maj. Sharon Feingold, a military spokes- person.
"I heard soldiers screaming, the blast was very strong," said a Palestinian woman standing outside the room who identified herself only as Amena. She said another Palestinian woman in the room ran out, bleeding from her legs.
After the explosion, a makeshift checkpoint structure of corrugated metal had a large hole in the roof and destroyed desks and computers were scattered nearby.
The bombing was jointly claimed by Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Before the attack Raiyshi made a video standing in front of two Hamas flags.
