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Fearful Foreigners and Palestinians Abscond Gaza Strip
GAZA CITY, June 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Dozens of foreigners living and working in the Gaza Strip along with hundreds of Palestinians evacuated their homes Saturday amid fears of an Israeli military retaliation for a bombing that killed the bomber and 18 people at a Tel Aviv disco.
"They were our only hope that the response wouldn't be so terrible," said a Palestinian employee of a foreign consulate who requested anonymity. According to news agencies the foreigners packed lightly, expecting to return within a few days, after being contacted by their consulates and embassies in Israel.
He said he knew of at least 20 foreigners who left Gaza on Saturday.
Eighteen young people were killed late Friday when a suspected Palestinian bomber blew himself up near dozens of people waiting in line to enter a Tel Aviv beachfront nightclub.
Ninety Israelis were wounded in the attack, including 14 who were in serious or critical condition.
Meanwhile Palestinian Authority offices stood deserted Saturday after thousands of public servants and police officers were evacuated amid further concerns over a possible Israeli retaliation.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat meanwhile, was confined to the West Bank town of Ramallah by Israel's tightened blockade of Palestinian areas. Israel barred him from using Gaza International Airport, thus blocking his return to his headquarters in the Gaza Strip. Israeli military checkpoints ringed West Bank towns, barring residents from leaving.
After previous bomb attacks, Israel has responded by shelling Palestinian security installations, but not civilian offices. But in the West Bank and Gaza Saturday, the Palestinian Authority ordered its employees to leave their offices.
The U.S. embassy said recent events, including the brief detention of an American journalist by a suspected Palestinian group several days ago, heightened its concern for the safety of U.S. citizens in Gaza.
"Americans should not travel to Gaza at the present time and those who live there should depart to a safer location when they can do so," the embassy said in a travel warning issued to American citizens Saturday and reported by several Western news agencies.
A convoy of cars carrying foreign staffers of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency left the agency's compound in Gaza Saturday afternoon, eye witnesses said. The cars were loaded with luggage.
Other foreigners took measures to prevent their homes and offices from becoming Israeli military targets, flying their national flags from official residences and offices.
In Ramallah, ambulances parked near the homes of senior Palestinian officials, as well as close to Arafat's headquarters. Residents of five homes close to the office of Palestinian intelligence chief Amin al-Hindi were told to leave.
Palestinian policemen manning checkpoints at the edges of Palestinian-controlled territory pulled back several hundred meters under orders from their commanders.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, where 11 policemen were killed in an Israeli air strike last month, residents were urged to stay indoors.
At the town's An Najah University, students were evacuated, including a group that was in the middle of taking a chemistry exam.
In the West Bank town of Hebron, residents piled sand bags in front of their homes and shops. "We are expecting any Israeli attack at any time," said Omar Shahin, 27, at his cloth shop.
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