Deadly Gaza suicide blast idles 4,000

[Say_What]

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As Israel and the Palestinians remain deadlocked on how -- or even whether -- to proceed with an American-backed peace plan, Wednesday's suicide bombing by a young Palestinian mother of two appeared to harden sentiments on both sides against any resumption of contacts.

The woman methodically made her way to the front of a line of workers at the heavily fortified Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip Wednesday morning, feigned a medical problem and then detonated a bomb that was strapped to her body, killing herself and four Israelis -- three soldiers and a civilian security inspector, Israeli authorities said.

Of the seven people injured, according to Israeli and Palestinian medical officials, four were Palestinians.

Hamas, together with another Palestinian militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack. It was believed to be the first time that the deeply conservative Islamist group has dispatched a woman to carry out a suicide bombing.

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/15/MNGK14AC5S1.DTL>