Israel reimposes Gaza blockade after border bombing

GAZA - Israel reimposed an economically crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip on Thursday and threatened renewed military strikes on Palestinian militants a day after a Palestinian mother of two blew herself up at a border crossing.


The suicide bombing killed three Israeli soldiers and a security officer checking Palestinians through to workplaces in a border industrial zone that has been a rare haven of cooperation in the intractable Middle East conflict.


The attack further undermined prospects of reviving a US- backed peace plan stalled by violence and mistrust.


Amid heightened tensions, Israel's High Court decided to hold a hearing within a month on the legality of the vast barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. Israel says it is to seal out suicide bombers. Palestinians call it a land grab.


Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's deputy signalled that Palestinians faced lightning military action to deter militant factions from suicide attacks common in a three-year-old uprising, although less frequent of late.


"We must do whatever we can to prevent the terrible thing that happened yesterday. If it requires striking at those planning or setting in motion acts of murder, then we haven't refrained from doing so in the past and shall not refrain now," Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Israel Radio.


Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie has accused Israel of stoking violence with its military crackdown and blockades.


Warplanes roared over Gaza on Thursday in what residents feared could be preparations for an air strike on militants.


Reem al-Reyashi, 22, detonated her explosives belt on Wednesday inside the Erez crossing terminal. She left behind a son, 3-1/2, and a daughter, 1-1/2, and came from a prominent Gaza City merchant family.


INDEFINITE 'GENERAL CLOSURE'


Israel responded by shutting the terminal for several days at least and imposing a "general closure," meaning no labourers from the fenced-in Strip could enter Israel. An army statement did not say how long the measures would remain in effect.


Israeli soldiers handed over Al-Reyashi's remains on Thursday morning. She had said in a pre-bombing video she wanted to turn herself into deadly pieces of shrapnel.


Islamist militant group Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, said it had dispatched a woman bomber for the first time because of toughened Israeli security obstacles facing its male bombers.


The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated with President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said it helped plan the attack.


Mourners in a funeral procession of thousands, including masked gunmen firing into the air, carried her coffin aloft.


"We tell you Reem: 'May your soul rest in peace and we will follow in your footsteps and continue to blow up our bodies in the depths of the Zionists' entity until they are removed!'," a militant leader said through loudspeakers to the crowd.


In recent months, Israel's construction of its West Bank barrier has added to tension in the region.


The Israeli court's hearing on the legality of the disputed project will be held before the International Court of Justice at the Hague begins deliberations on February 23 on the same issue at the UN General Assembly's request.


The Israeli decision stemmed from a petition filed by an Israeli human rights group asking it to determine whether it was legal for the barrier cut into Palestinian territory.


Israeli government officials declined immediate comment.

- REUTERS