Earlier Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer warned that daily attempts by Palestinians to send suicide attackers into Israel, are foiled by Israeli forces, but not all.

The Israeli Army’s website reported Monday that the army received a warning about the operation in advance. This is seen by analysts as a challenge by Palestinian resistance.

The Palestinian attack came hours after Israeli occupation forces reoccupied Bethlehem and netted one of the Palestinian resistance activists. Meanwhile, Palestinians stepped up efforts to send human bombs into Israeli cities, in retaliation for daily Israeli incursions, destruction of homes and abductions.

Dozens of Palestinians were abducted as Israeli troops and armored vehicles moved into Bethlehem before dawn, taking up positions across the town, including around the Church of the Nativity, scene of a five-week siege which ended on May 10.

Palestinian security sources said Ahmed Moghrabi, Bethlehem head of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group of Fatah movement at the forefront of anti-Israeli attacks, was abducted, as well as a Palestinian girl, allegedly sister of a martyr who killed two Israelis in a Jerusalem supermarket on March 29.

About 20 civilians were abducted as Israeli troops, accompanied by agents from the Shin Beth internal security agency, made house searches in the town and the nearby refugee camp of Dheisheh, herding around 500 men for identity checks.

Another two alleged Al-Aqsa activists were seized, including Ali Youssef Ahmed Moghrabi, 16, Ahmed's brother.

The men are accused by Israel of organizing the bomb attack by a 16-year-old -- the youngest suicide bomber ever - that killed two Israelis last Wednesday in a Tel Aviv suburb.

It was the second such raid in 24 hours, and came a day after army chief of staff General Shaul Mofaz warned that Israel could launch much "deeper" incursions to thwart bomb attacks, who, according to Israeli statistics, are intercepted at a rate of two a day.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Arafat feared a renewed Israeli occupation of Ramallah, the scene of heavy clashes in last month's invasion which left the Palestinian leader under siege for a month, AFP reported.

Palestinian security sources said the army declared the whole of Bethlehem a "closed military zone" off-limits to the press, and slapped a curfew on the town to prevent resistance activists again seeking sanctuary in the Nativity Church.

An Israeli military source said another incursion into Qalqilya in the north of the West Bank was continuing and two Palestinians were held.

Palestinian medics said 10-year-old twin girls were injured by shrapnel as the army briefly pulled out and then reoccupied the town.

The army still encircled Tulkarem, north of Qalqilya, which it occupied Sunday while Palestinians also reported raids in Hebron and four nearby villages, where dozens were taken prisoner.