Seven Israeli soldiers and a civilian were killed yesterday morning when a Palestinian bus driver ploughed into a crowd at a bus stop outside Tel Aviv, in the latest escalation of what President Bush called "the tragic cycle of violent action and reaction".
The driver, a 35-year-old father of five from the Gaza Strip who had been ferrying Palestinian workers to jobs in Israel, then attempted to escape with his vehicle into Gaza but was shot and wounded by an Israeli policeman, crashed into a truck, and was still unconscious in hospital last night.
In response to the deaths - the heaviest toll inside Israel since the bombing of a Jerusalem vegetable market four years ago - Israel sealed off the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel's outgoing Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, condemned the "abominable attack". The Prime Minister-elect, Mr Ariel Sharon, said it demonstrated that the Palestinians were now targeting Israelis not only in the West Bank and Gaza but inside the country as well, and pledged to "restore Israelis' personal security" as soon as he takes office.
Some of the bitterest comments came from Israel's President, Mr Moshe Katsav, who blamed the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, for inciting the Palestinians to bloodshed against Israel and described him as "a leader who has brought disaster to his people".
Mr Arafat, visiting Jordan and Turkey, initially ascribed the incident to what he called "Israel's military escalation, which has a direct effect on the feelings of all the Palestinian people". Later, he dismissed it as "a road accident".
Only towards evening, after what was reportedly a furious phone call from US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell, did the Palestinian Planning Minister, Mr Nabil Sha'ath, issue a firm statement of condemnation.
The Islamic militant movement, Hamas, admitted responsibility for the killings, but the family of the driver, Mr Khalil Abu-Olbeh, while not disputing he had carried out a deliberate attack, said he had no connection with any extremist organisation, but had apparently been pushed to despair by what his brother Hussein called "the daily toll of fatalities here".
Mr Abu-Olbeh's bus rammed into the crowds at the Azur junction south of Tel Aviv during the morning rush-hour. Eyewitnesses spoke of the bus suddenly accelerating toward them and leaving "dead people with arms, legs and heads cut open".
Four of the dead soldiers were women; all seven were aged between 18 and 21. The civilian was a 30-year-old woman.