A Palestinian resistance bomber killed an Israeli woman and wounded 29 other people when he blew himself up in suburban Tel Aviv, while in the Gaza Strip Israeli tanks killed two more youths.The resistance bombing ended a three-week lull in violence inside Israel, although Israeli operations in Gaza have killed more than 20 people this week, despite US-led calls for restraint.

The unidentified woman was fatally injured after the resistance bomber slipped while trying to board a bus and was thrown out by passengers who saw the explosive belt strapped to his body, police said.

They raised the alarm and fled, while the Palestinian ran off to a second group of people waiting nearby and blew himself up there, Superintendent Gil Kleiman said.

The blast happened under bridge by a bus stop used mainly by students of Bar Ilan university, east of Tel Aviv centre, the radio said.

It was the first resistance attack in Israel since a Palestinian killed six people as well as himself and wounded more than 60 in central Tel Aviv on September 19, also in an attack on a bus.

That blast, coming the day after the death of a policeman in an resistance explosion in northern Israel, prompted Israel occupation forces to invade Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah and demolish most of the buildings.

They kept Arafat under a tight blockade in his West Bank headquarters for 10 days before withdrawing under US pressure.

The Islamic movement Hamas, which carried out the last resistance bombing in Tel Aviv, had promised more attacks after Israeli occupation forces killed 16 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis on Monday.

The Israeli occupation army on Thursday arrested 55 Palestinians in a huge dragnet through villages round Ramallah aimed at smashing Hamas, which launches its attacks out of the West Bank rather than the closely guarded and isolated Gaza Strip.

Several units, including tanks and helicopters, took part in the sweep which lasted several hours on Thursday morning, without meeting any resistance from the Palestinians, the sources said.

"The aim was to destroy the infrastructure of Hamas, to arrest those behind anti-Israeli attacks," a military spokesman said.
"We hope to have delivered a very hard blow to Hamas," which is behind most attacks inside Israel.

Meanwhile in the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli machine-gun fire killed two young people during a raid into the Rafah refugee camp on the Israeli-controlled border with Egypt, Palestinian hospital sources said.

Ehab Mughir was shot in the chest from a tank, they said, while 12-year-old Taher el-Hout was hit in the head.
Helicopters also fired rockets into the sector without causing injuries, witnesses said.

Two boys were killed late Wednesday in similar shooting by Israeli tanks engaged in an operation to destroy Palestinian homes in the border sector.

Rafah, an impoverished town teeming with refugee shanties, is the scene of frequent Israeli tank raids and occupation army searches, as the military accuses weapons smugglers of tunnelling under the border into Egypt to bring in new arms to attack Israeli military positions and settlements.

Earlier Wednesday, eight people were injured wn Israeli occupation forces stationed in Jewish settlements facing the nearby Palestinian town of Khan Yunis opened fire, hitting four students and a cook in a school and three other civilians, Palestinian officials said.

On Monday, a major Israeli tank and helicopter raid aimed at Hamas resistance men firing mortars at Jewish settlements cost the lives of 16 Palestinians and earned Israel a sharp rebuke for its frequent and bloody raids into Gaza Strip, the last bastion of Islamic hardliners.

But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon shrugged off the criticism, saying Monday's raid was a success and that the operations would go on.

Washington wants to see the two-year crisis cool down as it tries to build support for anticipated strikes on Iraq.

PHOTO CAPTION

With a minaret seen in the background, an Israeli armored personnel carrier follows a tank as they advance to a new position near the center of the northern West Bank city of Nablus Sunday Oct. 6, 2002. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)