Israel seals off Bethlehem, razes Gaza home

Israel declared the West Bank city of Bethlehem a closed military zone and razed the home of a Gaza militant following a Jerusalem suicide bombing on a bus that killed 11 people.

The attack, the first in Israel since the start of a general election campaign, raised the spectre of harsh military retaliation. The sealing off of Bethlehem looked likely to be a first step ahead of a military operation there.

In the Gaza Strip, troops backed by two helicopters as well as 40 tanks and armoured vehicles entered the village of al-Qurara where they razed the home of a member of the Islamic militant Hamas group that claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem bus attack, Palestinian witnesses said.

Military sources confirmed an operation in Gaza but could not elaborate. Palestinians said troops were surrounding several other homes belonging to Hamas members.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had ruled out calling up reserves for an extensive military action yesterday but instructed the army to carry out "pinpoint" operations against militants, security sources said.

Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz also cleared the way for military action in Bethlehem by declaring void an August agreement that led Israel to pull troops out of the city and hand security control over to the Palestinians.

Since Israel's withdrawal, Bethlehem has become "a safe haven for terrorists", the two leaders noted in a Thursday meeting in which they pledged to act "against this infrastructure of terror", the sources said.

After the meeting, Bethlehem was sealed off by the army and the nearby villages of Hussan, Beitin and El-Khader were placed under curfew, the military and Palestinian witnesses said.

The 23-year-old bomber was from El-Khader, where soldiers ordered residents out of their homes for several hours on Thursday evening, Palestinian witnesses said.

All the activities seemed directed at Hamas, which has claimed responsibility for bombing and shooting attacks that have killed scores of Israelis since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000.

At a NATO summit in the Czech Republic, U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned yesterday's bombing.

"It is clear that those who want to use terror to stop any process for peace are still active. In order to achieve peace all countries in the region must take responsibility, do their best to fight off terror," Bush told reporters.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Prague, demanded Palestinians "eradicate the infrastructure of terrorism".

In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the bombing "as utterly reprehensible" but said such acts should not blind all sides to the need for peace talks.