AL QUDS, Jan 14: A 22-year-old Palestinian woman detonated an explosives belt at the crossing point between the northern Gaza Strip and Israel on Wednesday morning, killing three Israeli soldiers and a civilian along with herself.

At least 10 other people were injured in the attack at the Erez terminal, one of them critically. Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades issued a joint leaflet claiming responsibility for the bombing.

The bomber apparently managed to pass unimpeded though the Palestinian checkpoint before reaching a security-check terminal manned by Israeli soldiers.

When she told the soldiers that she had a steel plate in her leg which was likely to make the metal detector beep, they called for a female soldier to carry out a body search on her. But while they waited, the woman managed to move two to three metres and detonate her bomb inside the terminal hall, an Israeli official said.

The Erez crossing is the main entry and exit point into and out of the Gaza Strip. Thousands of Palestinian workers pass though it in the early morning and late afternoon to and from jobs in Israel or the Erez industrial zone.

The attack however occurred at a later hour when most workers had already passed through the crossing. The terminal in which it took place was inaugurated only last month.

Gadi Shamni, the head of the Israeli army's Gaza division, said the bomber had been waiting in line with Palestinians applying for a magnetic entry permit, needed for work in Israel.

Palestinian Premier Ahmed Qorei called for a ceasefire, but stopped short of condemning the attack. "The difficult conditions and the continuation of the siege, the closure and the pursuit of activists do not help to calm the situation and always lead to an increase of violence and counter- violence," he told reporters in Ramallah.

"We hope that there will be a mutual ceasefire under certain conditions for each party," he said, adding that otherwise the situation would remain fragile. The suicide bomber was the first female one to come from the Gaza Strip.-dpa