JERUSALEM - Declaring "nobody enters and nobody leaves," Israel's defense minister imposed a ban on Palestinian travel in the northern West Bank and sealed off part of the Gaza Strip on Monday after attacks on Israelis killed 13 people in 24 hours.
The measures expand on the already tight restrictions Israel has imposed on seven major West Bank cities and towns in a bid to stop terrorist attacks, including rolling curfews that keep Palestinians at home for days on end.
Under the new travel ban, Palestinians will not be able to drive in the northern half of the West Bank, between the towns of Nablus, Jenin, Qalqiliya, Tulkarem and Ramallah, the army said. Some movement will be permitted in the southern West Bank, including the towns of Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho.
Hours after the clampdown was announced, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a metal shop in Gaza City's Zeitouni neighborhood, which is known as a hub for the militant group Hamas. Four people were injured in the strike, which damaged three buildings. Israel Army Radio said the targeted building was a suspected weapons factory.
Earlier, a car exploded in northern Israel, killing one person and wounding another. Police said it appeared the slain passenger was a Palestinian militant en route to carry out an attack.
Israeli media said the driver was an Israeli Arab from Nazareth, who picked up a hitchhiker not knowing he was a militant. The Palestinian apparently detonated his explosives belt prematurely, killing himself and wounding the driver.
The blast occurred near the Arab Israeli town of Umm el-Fahm, southeast of Haifa. The location is not far from the site of a deadly bus bombing Sunday and several other recent attacks.
The explosion came as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invited Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to peace talks in Egypt. Officials from both sides said they had received no formal invitation.
Israeli officials have said further meetings were on hold following Sunday's carnage. But Palestinian sources in Arafat's office said Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer met Monday in Jerusalem with the Palestinian interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh. Calls to Ben-Eliezer's spokesman weren't returned late Monday.
The attacks Sunday in northern Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank left 13 people dead, including Jews, Arabs and two women from the Philippines. In addition, three assailants were killed.
In response to Sunday's attacks, Ben-Eliezer announced the travel restrictions.
"We are in a situation of total closure in the area of Samaria," Ben-Eliezer said, using the biblical name for the northern West Bank. "Nobody enters and nobody leaves. There is no movement between the towns and villages."
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