Israel severs Arafat link

Israel severed all contact with Yasser Arafat and launched massive airstrikes on his headquarters today after 10 Israelis were killed in a bus ambush on the West Bank.

In a dramatic escalation of hostilities, which appears to mark the end for the latest US peace efforts, prime minister Ariel Sharon and his security Cabinet declared that they will no longer deal with the Palestinian leader.

The Israelis, however, denied Mr Arafat's claims they are now seeking to assassinate him. But in a statement issued after an emergency Cabinet meeting, a spokesman for Mr Sharon said Mr Arafat is "directly responsible" for the attacks "and therefore is no longer relevant to Israel, and Israel will no longer have any connection with him".

The Israeli justice minister Meir Sheetrit said meetings with Palestinian security commanders, arranged by US peace envoy Anthony Zinni, would all be cancelled. He said that "Arafat is no longer the address? for Israel in its struggle against violence, adding: "Israel will defend itself." Israeli retaliation for the bus attack - which also injured 30 - was swift.

Warplanes repeatedly hit Palestinian Authority buildings in Gaza and the West Bank, knocking down structure after structure in the police headquarters, setting off a huge fire and sending people scurrying in all directions.

Palestinian health ministry officials said 40 people were hurt in the Gaza attacks, adding that a woman who was not wounded died of shock.

Helicopter gunships fired on a radio mast near Mr Arafat's West Bank headquarters in Ramallah. Mr Arafat was evacuated from the building shortly before the attack. Israeli troops were also deployed to Gaza and the West Bank to make arrests and confiscate weapons.

Mr Sharon's officials have also begun drawing up new plans to combat the militant Islamic groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The latest cycle of violence started yesterday afternoon with the attack on the bus at the Emmanuel settlement in the West Bank.

The bus was driving up a hilly road towards the settlement when an explosion caused either by a bomb on the road or a suicide attacker caused it to stop. Gunmen then opened fire from the surrounding hills on both sides of the road.

"They not only fired on a bus but shot at ambulances trying to rescue victims," said an Israeli army spokesman.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a group linked to Mr Arafat's Fatah faction, later claimed it carried out the attack. In another incident yesterday, two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the Neveh Dekalim Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, wounding four people.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the attacks and said it had ordered the immediate closure of Hamas and Islamic Jihad institutions including education, health and political offices.