MIDDLE EAST: A Palestinian suicide bomber blew apart a bus in the heart of Jerusalem last night as it carried religious Jews from a visit to the Wailing Wall, killing at least 20 people, including children, wounding more than 100 and inflicting the most serious blow yet to the six-week-old ceasefire.
Israel immediately called off a plan to withdraw from four Palestinian cities on the West Bank and said it was freezing all other negotiations with the Palestinians. "The talks are frozen, as is the handover," a government source said.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility in a phone call to Associated Press. The organisation had threatened retribution "like an earthquake" for the Israeli army's killing of Ahmed Sidr, its commander, in Hebron last Thursday.
The blast came shortly after 9 p.m. Israeli time as the bus travelled through Shmuel Hanavi, an orthodox Jewish neighbourhood on the western side of the 1967 border with Palestinian East Jerusalem.
Within minutes, Israelis were confronted with a familiar sight that many had hoped, but not quite believed was behind them with the declaration of the ceasefire by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah at the end of June.
The blast devastated the articulated bus, scattering body parts, and blew the windows out of another bus nearby. Frenzied paramedics piled inert bodies up beside one of the ambulances that rushed to the scene.
Shocked survivors, including several crying children with blood-smeared faces, were led away from the scene. A paramedic cradled a little girl in his arms and two others led away an older woman. Police pushed spectators away from the scene as military engineers searched for more explosives.
"I knew immediately what it was," said Samuel Litva, who was walking a little further up the street when the bomb went off.
"You know, you just know, without really seeing. I ran toward the bus. I suppose there could have been another explosion, but I never thought about it and there were these people lying there. I couldn't tell if they were dead or alive, no one seemed to be moving, but then I could see that some people were still breathing even though they were very bloody.
"Everyone ran out to try and help the living. The terrible thing was to see the children. I don't think the small ones knew if they were alive or dead."
The explosion bulged the bus out like a blow fish, shattering the windows and warping the body. The dead were hanging from their seats. Dozens of wounded, some with terrible injuries, lay silent and shocked in the road with body parts of the dead scattered among them.
Few of the survivors made any sound. Many appeared to be orthodox Jews. As dozens of ambulances converged on the scene, their crews grabbed the children first.
Officials at Hadassah hospital said it had taken 50 casualties from the bombing, including 15 children.Some people had been travelling on a second bus which happened to be in front of the vehicle the suicide bomber boarded and caught some of the blast. Jerusalem's police chief, Mr Mickey Levy, described the explosion as large.
The authorities were exploring the possibility that the bomber was dressed as an ultra-orthodox Jew, a favoured tactic in recent such attacks.
A helicopter hovered over the area, running a strobe light along the streets perhaps in search of a second bomber.
A Palestinian legislator, Mr Saeb Erekat, condemned the bombing.
The explosion went off as Palestinian Prime Minister Mr Mahmoud Abbas was meeting Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip to persuade them to halt attacks on Israelis. The militants had declared a unilateral three-month truce on June 29th, but have said they would continue taking revenge for Israeli killings of their operatives.
Hamas said it was not involved. "We are committed to the truce. I don't know who carried out this action," said Mr Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader.
Israel swiftly called off a plan to hand back four West Bank cities to Palestinian control. Qalqilya and Jericho were supposed to be transferred in the coming days with Ramallah, the Palestinian capital, and Tulkarm to follow within a fortnight "if there were no terror attacks".
The Israeli government reacted with relative restraint to two suicide bombings last week, but the scale and target of last night's attack is likely to draw a more substantial response, which could see a complete end to the ceasefire.