A Palestinian suicide bomber killed himself and wounded 15 people at a restaurant in northern Israel today and Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian child in a firefight in the West Bank.
Israeli soldiers shot eight-year-old Sabreen Ijrewi in the head and wounded another 12 people during an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen in the city of Hebron, local witnesses and hospital sources said.
The Israeli army said it was checking the report and added that two Israeli border police had been wounded when the Palestinians opened fire on Israeli forces and a Jewish neighbourhood in the divided city.
The explosion in the Wall Street restaurant in the town of Kiryat Motzkin, north of the port of Haifa, followed an attack in Jerusalem on Thursday in which 15 people were killed as well as the Palestinian suicide bomber.
The blast at the Jerusalem pizzeria was the worst attack in the city since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September after peace negotiations broke down.
The militant group Islamic Jihad said in a statement sent to Reutersin Beirut that one of its members, Muhammad Mahmoud Nasr (28), had carried out Sunday's attack.
Amid diplomatic efforts to prevent the violence from escalating further, the Islamic militant group Hamas said the Palestinian Authority had arrested four of its members, one of whom Israel believes sent the Jerusalem bomber.
But Israel said the arrests did not go far enough and insisted that the Palestinians stop terror .
Before the bombing, Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon gave Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres the go-ahead to hold talks with the Palestinians on implementing a US-brokered ceasefire between the sides that never took hold.
Mr Sharon has refused to hold political talks with the Palestinians until all forms of violence end.
But Palestinian officials said the decision would be meaningless unless Israel vacated nine Palestinian offices it took over in and around Arab East Jerusalem following the bombing in Jerusalem on Thursday.