Tel Aviv: A Palestinian suicide bomber killed an Israeli woman and wounded 29 other people on October 10 when he blew himself up in suburban Tel Aviv, while in the Gaza Strip Israeli tanks killed two more youths.

The suicide bombing ended a three-week lull in violence inside Israel, although Israeli operations in Gaza have killed more than 20 people this week, despite US-led calls for restraint.

The unidentified woman was fatally injured after the suicide bomber slipped while trying to board a bus and was thrown out by passengers who saw the explosive belt strapped to his body, police said.

They raised the alarm and fled, while the Palestinian ran off to a second group of people waiting nearby and blew himself up there, Superintendent Gil Kleiman said.

The blast happened under a bridge by a bus stop used mainly by students of Bar Ilan university, East of Tel Aviv centre, the radio said.

It was the first suicide attack in Israel since a Palestinian killed six people as well as himself and wounded more than 60 in central Tel Aviv on September 19, also in an attack on a bus.

That blast, coming the day after the death of a policeman in a suicide explosion in Northern Israel, prompted Israeli forces to invade Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah and demolish most of the buildings.

They kept Arafat under a tight blockade in his West Bank headquarters for 10 days before withdrawing under US pressure.