Three Palestinian suicide bombers killed themselves in attacks on Israeli targets, but failed to kill any Israelis, in yet another upsurge of Middle East violence yesterday. The burned body of an Israeli civilian was found near the West Bank town of Tulkarm, there were gun-battles at the southern foot of the Gaza Strip, and Israeli troops injured two people on the Lebanese border, including a Palestinian man who climbed on to the fence at the northern border, where hundreds more Lebanese gathered to celebrate the first anniversary of Israel's troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Witnesses said Israeli troops had shot Mr Muhammad al-Asadi (24) in the knee after he scaled a guard post on the Lebanese side of the Abbad border point. A 14-year-old Lebanese boy, Bassam Fawaz Jaafar, was taken to hospital later after being injured by bullet fragments when Israeli troops at Abbad opened fire again, Lebanese security sources said.
Witnesses near another border point said a group of people had torn down part of the fence marking the border and stepped across it from Lebanon, raising Lebanese and Hizbullah flags.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, said that he was prepared to wait "a few more days" for the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, "to call for a ceasefire", and that, for now at least, his troops were still under orders to minimise their firepower and shoot only when their lives were in danger.
The Palestinian Authority has branded such orders a "public relations ploy" and said that there can be no ceasefire until Israel agrees to halt all building work at Jewish settlements. Both sides profess to accept fundamentally a US initiative for halting the violence, but they are accusing each other of breaching and misinterpreting that initiative.
The first suicide attack came yesterday morning in Gaza. A Palestinian from the Jebalya refugee camp, driving a truck with explosives on board, accelerated towards an Israeli army position alongside the Netzarim settlement, and detonated his charge when he came under fire. Hamas admitted responsibility for the attack.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual patron of the movement, said it had been timed to coincide with the Lebanese withdrawal anniversary, and that its intention was to "plant terror in the heads of the enemies".
Following the blast, Palestinian policemen fired on the Israeli soldiers at the outpost, Israeli officials said. Palestinian officials said Israel shelled their police station, injuring three officers. Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armoured vehicles also crossed into Palestinian territory at two points in Gaza.
At one of these, near the Karni crossing point into Israel, the army said it found and defused a bomb at the border fence.
In the afternoon, outside the Haderah bus station in northern Israel, two men rammed a stolen car into an Egged bus, setting off a large explosive charge.
A Hamas offshoot, Islamic Jihad, admitted this attack.
A member of the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction was killed late yesterday when a car carrying three other Palestinians exploded near Nablus, Palestinian security sources said. The Palestinian leadership condemned "this assassination perpetrated by Israel" of Azzam Mizhir (23) inside the Balata refugee camp. The leadership said nine people were injured, three of them seriously.