Palestinians Attack School Bus in Gaza Strip, Killing 2 Israelis

KISSUFIM JUNCTION, Gaza Strip, Nov. 20 (AP) - A bomb exploded Monday near an armored bus taking children and teachers from a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip to an elementary school. Two adults were killed and nine passengers wounded, among them five children.

Shrapnel from the blast -- caused by a 122 mm mortar shell attached to a detonator -- tore melon-sized holes into a side of the red-and-white bus and shattered windows. Later, Israelis spraypainted the words "This is what we get for restraint," in Hebrew on the bus.

The new civilian deaths increased the pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to retaliate harshly -- something he has said he was trying to avoid in order to keep the door open to a resumption of peace talks after seven weeks of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Barak convened his security Cabinet several hours after the bombing. "This will not pass without a response," Gilead Sher, a senior adviser to Barak, told Israel army radio. Last week, Israel rocketed Palestinian command centers after deadly attacks on Israelis.

One of the victims of the blast was identified as 35-year-old, Miriam Amitai, a mother of four. Amitai was to be buried later Monday in the West Bank. Of the wounded, an adult and a child were in serious condition. One of the injured lost both legs.

Three different groups -- "Palestinian Hezbollah, "Al-Aqsa Martyrs" and "Omar al-Mukhtar" -- claimed responsibility. The first two have not been active before, and it was not clear whether they had ties to existing Islamic militant groups, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have carried out roadside bombings in Gaza in the bast. The third, Damascus-based "Omar al-Mukhtar," is a little-known splinter of a tiny PLO faction.

Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin was evasive when asked whether his group was responsible. "What happened today is a natural outcome of the many deaths on the Palestinian side," Yassin said, referring to more than 200 Palestinians killed in the recent violence. But, he added, "Our targets are not children, but the military."

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