A female Palestinian suicide bomber blew herself up Wednesday morning at the main crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing at least four people, Israeli officials said.  

Another 10 people were injured, one gravely, according to Israel Radio.

The Erez crossing is the main entry point into Israel for thousands of Palestinian workers every day.

The explosion happened in the area where laborers and foreigners cross over the boundary, but there were few Palestinian workers in the area at the time and all the dead appeared to be Israelis, Israeli officials said.

The army said it did not know on which side of the border the attack took place.

Palestinian witnesses said a woman waiting to pass through to the Israeli side blew herself up. The soldiers then forced everyone out and shut down the crossing after the blast.

The Gaza Strip is surrounded by an Israeli security barrier, and none of the suicide bombers responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people in Israel in the past three years of violence have come from there. Erez, however, has been the target of occasional attacks.

The suicide bombing was the first since a Dec. 25 attack at a bus stop outside Tel Aviv that killed four people.

On Oct. 14 three American security guards were killed in the Gaza Strip just south of Erez, when a Palestinian set off an explosive device at a passing diplomatic convoy.

(China Daily January 15, 2004)