GAZA CITY, 2 September — Israel yesterday assassinated a senior Palestinian security official in a car blast in Gaza that cast a shadow over efforts to arrange talks aimed at ending more than 11 months of bloodshed.

Taiseer Khatab, director of the office of Palestinian intelligence chief, Amin Al-Hindi, was killed and four others were wounded in the blast that threw body parts into the street. Blood stained the car seats and road.

Khatab was assassinated on his 44th birthday after a bomb blew up his car as he drove from his house to his office here, hospital sources said.

He was seriously wounded in the explosion and died of his injuries in hospital shortly afterward. His bodyguard was badly wounded in the blast and three civilians were also hurt.

“Israel is behind Khatab’s assassination. He was personally targeted,” the head of Palestinian West Bank intelligence, Tawfiq Al-Tirawi, said. Israeli denied killing Khatab and described him as “someone who was trying to put an end to the violence”.

The explosion came as Israeli sources said talks were under way between Israeli and Palestinian officials to prepare for a possible meeting between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres as early as next week.

Palestinian officials said Israel assassinated Khatab in Gaza City as part of its policy of tracking and killing Palestinians who it alleges are planning attacks against Israelis.

A statement issued by the Palestinian Intelligence Services said that Israel “carried full responsibility for the bloody escalation carried out through the security system and spies.” It said the explosive had been placed under Khatab’s car seat.

Speaking to AFP from the UN conference on racism in Durban, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s top aide, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said: “We hold Israel responsible for this assassination and this new escalation.

“We warn Israel that if it continues its attacks and crimes, it will lead the whole region into an explosive situation”, Abu Rudeina added.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian woman was killed and four others were wounded yesterday evening when a taxi exploded near Tulkarem, in the north of the West Bank, Palestinian hospital sources said. The dead woman was identified as 22-year-old Abir Abu Salha.

In Hebron, eight Palestinians were injured in clashes earlier, as shooting continued yesterday morning following an Israeli incursion into the autonomous Palestinian West Bank town, hospital sources said.

Israeli soldiers backed up by tanks took up positions late Friday around 200 meters inside the Hart El-Sheikh area and dozens of meters inside the nearby Bab El-Zawia quarter of this flash point city. A child and an Israeli soldier were also injured in clashes.

On the first day of the new school year, several dozen schoolchildren living in Hebron’s Palestinian-controlled sector were prevented from reaching their school, located a few meters inside the sector controlled by Israel.

Meanwhile, an unknown Palestinian group “Bilal Al-Ghul” claimed responsibility late yesterday for the assassination of the Palestinian intelligence officer.