Explosions on two buses on the main street of the southern Israeli city of Beersheba have killed at least 16 people in suicide attacks.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas has claimed it carried out the attacks.
An Israeli bus burns after bomb blasts ripped through two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba
Army Radio said two Palestinian bombers had detonated devices on board the buses. Police confirmed that the explosions were caused by bomb attacks and Hizbollah's al-Manar television quoted Palestinian sources as saying they were suicide attacks.
A third blast reportedly rocked the city centre near its main indoor shopping centre a short time later.
The lull in attacks inside Israel since March has been one of the longest since the start of the uprising.
The explosion blew out the windows of the one of the buses, setting the roof on fire and sending smoke billowing.
Israeli soldiers at a Gaza border terminal captured a Palestinian suicide bomber earlier today before he could detonate a new form of explosives belt hidden in his underwear, the army said.
Suicide bombers last struck in Israel on March 14th, killing 10 people at the southern port of Ashdod.
Today's bombers came from the nearby West Bank city of Hebron. Israeli officials said the unfinished section of the barrier near Hebron underlined the urgency of finishing its construction to keep out such attackers.
Palestinians denounce the barrier as a grab of land they seek for statehood because it would take in large Jewish settlements. The World Court has ruled the barrier illegal. Israeli troops sealed off Hebron after the bombing.
The bombs could make it harder for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to overcome resistance in his right-wing camp to his plan for evacuating occupied Gaza and bits of the West Bank to "disengage" from conflict with Palestinians.
Anti-pullout protesters quickly descended on the scene of the bombing, waving banners that condemned the withdrawal plan.
Rightist hawks powerful in Mr Sharon's Likud party contend that quitting Gaza would "reward Palestinian terrorism".
But Mr Sharon dismissed an Israel Radio report quoting a senior government official as saying the fresh assault by Hamas, sworn to destroy Israel itself, was designed to sabotage his plan.
"Israel will keep fighting terror with all its might. This attack has nothing to do with disengagement but only the murderous nature of Palestinian terrorists," he said.