Advertisement At least 90 people were wounded in the attack, and 14 were still hospitalized by Wednesday night, one in critical condition.
Early Wednesday morning, IDF troops raided the West Bank city of Tul Karm, the area from which the suicide bomber , an Islamic Jihad activist, was sent to carry out the terror attack. The IDF said the operation was aimed at arresting those Islamic Jihad activists responsible for the bombing.
Two armed Palestinians were killed and one was wounded in the Tul Karm raid, witnesses said. Two IDF soldiers sustained light wounds in the operation, and were taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. Five Islamic Jihad militants have been apprehended since the bombing, and the IDF seized some arms and explosives in Tul Karm.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday vowed to wage a "relentless attack" against the Islamic Jihad and its commanders in the wake of the suicide bombing.
"Yesterday I ordered police and Israeli security services to launch a relentless attack against the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization and its commanders," Sharon told reporters at Ben-Gurion International Airport as he welcomed hundreds of new immigrants arriving from North America.
Israel also placed all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under total closure for an indefinite period of time, and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered a suspension of talks between Israeli and Palestinian defense officials.
The terrorist blew himself up a little after 6:30 P.M. Tuesday at the intersection of Herzl and Petah Tikva streets at the entrance to Netanya. Police said the suicide bomber walked east on the pedestrian crossing, carrying a 7- to 10-kilogram explosive belt.
In the wake of the suicide bombing, Mofaz canceled his meeting with Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan, which was scheduled for Tuesday night. Israel is also expected to postpone the transfer of Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority, set to take place later this week.
Tul Karm operation due to last 'several days'
The IDF will require "several days" to achieve maximum results in Tul Karm, the commander of IDF troops in the West Bank, Brigadier General Yair Golan, told Israel Radio.
"This operation was mounted in order to carry out pinpoint arrests of the Islamic Jihad terrorists behind the Netanya suicide bombing that killed three Israeli civilians," a military source said before the fourth fatality was identified.
Witnesses said some 20 military vehicles swept into Tul Karm, which was handed over to PA security control following a mutual cease-fire declaration by Sharon and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in February.
"Today's measures are intended to ensure the protection of Israeli citizens," said David Baker, an official at the Prime Minister's Office. "We will not tolerate the situation where Israeli citizens are murdered as we saw in Netanya yesterday for simply wanting to visit a mall."
Hadash-Ta'al chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh condemned the attack, but called on the government to withdraw its troops from the town immediately in order to avoid an escalation in the security situation.
"The purpose of entering Tul Karm is to create a smoke screen to cover up the government's crimes, the construction of the separation fence and settlement expansion," he said.
Barakeh said he was in a meeting with Abbas as the PA chairman received news of the bombing, and is convinced the PA is determined to continue its efforts to prevent terrorist attacks, even though the bomber came from a village under full Israeli control.
"We severely condemn the bombing and offer our condolences to the families of the victims," Barakeh said.
According to military sources, the PA is not doing anything to thwart terror attacks and thus Tul Karm has become a refuge for the Islamic Jihad. Israel will therefore act with full force against the terror infrastructure in the town, the sources said.
Islamic Jihad militants in and around Tul Karm have been responsible for the deaths of 10 Israelis in attacks in the past six months, beginning with February's suicide bombing at the Stage nightclub in Tel Aviv.
Four people were killed today at a suicide bombing near a shopping center in Netanya. One of the dead was the suicide bomber. 90 others were injured, five of them seriously. Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to Reuters' Tulkarem office and identified the bomber as Ahmad Abu-Halil of Tulkarem.

At about 6:35 p.m. local time (UTC +3), Abu-Halil detonated himself on a crosswalk, after approaching a group of four young women, French tourists according to some of the reports, who were crossing the road. Nearby automobiles were also damaged by the explosion, and some of the shopping center's windows were shattered. Local police said that the bomber carried around 10 kg of explosives, as well as nails and metal pellets, on an explosive belt that was strapped to his body. Netanya's mayor, Miriam Fierberg, was present on the scene of the attack and immediately began assisting the injured.

It was later published that the casualties are two 16-year-old girls from Tel-Aviv, who were killed on the scene attack. The two other victims died in the hospital - a 31-year-old woman from Netanya and a 50-year-old woman from Netanya, whose daughter and granddaughter were seriously injured in the attack.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) condemned the attack. PA official Jibril Rajoub called it "''hurtful to our cause''" and chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said that "''those who carried out this attack want to sabotage the efforts being exerted to have a smooth and peaceful disengagement from Gaza and a revival of the peace process''".

The Israeli government on the other hand alleges that the PA is not doing enough to stop terrorism. ''"Israel has done all it could to ease up Palestinian needs but the PA has not fulfilled obligations undertaken at Sharem al Sheikh and shows no signs of doing so"'' said David Baker, an official in the office of Prime minister Ariel Sharon.

In light of the bombing, Israeli defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, cancelled a meeting with the Palestinian minister for civil affairs, Mohammed Dahlan, set for this evening to coordinate various issues regarding Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

This was the third attack in Israel in one day. Earlier this morning two Israeli soldiers were injured when a bomb was detonated near the automobile they were driving near Netzer Hazeni in the Gaza Strip. Minutes before the attack in Netanya there was another attack attempt when a suicide bomber drove a stolen truck loaded with explosives into a civilian settlement of Shavey Shomron in Samaria, but he detonated the vehicle without harm to anyone but himself. The bomber was injured and is being treated at a local hospital.