Blowout Prompts Scare In Israel

An loud explosion near a bus stop in Tel Aviv that Israeli officials now say was caused by a bus tire blowout caused a brief scare in a country that's on heightened alert for possible terror attacks a day after Israeli helicopters fired missiles at suspected Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

There were no injuries.

Israeli police had been on high alert after receiving numerous warnings of an impending attack — possibly timed to coincide with New Year's Eve celebrations.

The Israeli helicopter attack in the Gaza Strip late Tuesday, wounded at least 10 people, Palestinian witnesses said.

Israeli forces also returned to Nablus early Tuesday, exchanging gunfire with Palestinian militants and placing a curfew on the heavily populated ancient quarter of the West Bank city, Palestinian witnesses said.

Israeli forces had pulled out of Nablus on Monday after a two-week operation — focused around the Balata refugee camp — in which soldiers arrested dozens of suspected militants. The army says Nablus is a center of militant activity.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appears to be on a collision course with Jewish settlers.

Jewish settlers are vowing to resist Sharon's order to dismantle an unauthorized West Bank outpost that is home to about 30 Israelis, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger.

The settlers say God commanded the Jews to settle Eretz Yisrael, the Biblical Land of Israel.

"Even the smallest settlement is a Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisrael, in our land," said one settler.

Sharon has been under international pressure to dismantle some 100 outposts, as demanded by the roadmap peace plan.

At the same time, the population in the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has increased by 16 percent, during the nearly three years that Sharon has been prime minister.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the increase reflected "natural growth" of existing settlements, not new construction.

The Gaza City witnesses said the attack occurred near the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, a Hamas stronghold. The car was traveling toward the neighborhood.

"I saw a flame hit a small car and people trying to escape from the car," said Raouf Musalam, a pharmacy owner who witnessed the attack. "Apaches were overhead for about two minutes while people rushed to help the wounded people."

Hospital officials said 10 people had been wounded, two of them critically.

During three years of fighting, Israel has frequently carried out similar airstrikes aimed at Palestinian militants.

Israeli helicopters last struck targets in the Gaza Strip last Thursday, killing three Islamic Jihad militants and two civilians.

Prior to that, there had been a two-month letup in such attacks.

Israeli security officials have recently indicated that they would halt attacks on Hamas militants after the military chief, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, said the group appears to have halted attacks inside Israel. Security officials said the attacks on other groups would continue.

Early Tuesday, troops moved into Nablus' Old City, forcing about 40,000 people to stay in their homes and keeping children out of school, the witnesses said. Troops also forced residents out of their homes to conduct searches, they added.

No casualties were reported from the gunfire.

An army spokesman said the "terror infrastructure" was continuing to operate in Nablus and one suspect was arrested overnight.

The sweep is one of the largest Israeli military raids in the West Bank in recent months, reflecting Israeli policy to go after suspected Palestinian militants in the absence of Palestinian efforts to crack down on violent groups.

Also Tuesday, it appears Syria is extending an olive branch to Israel, reports Berger. Syria has invited an Israeli member of parliament from Sharon's Likud party to Damascus to discuss the possibility of renewing peace talks. An Israel Radio report did not name the lawmaker, but he's believed to be a Druze Arab with ties to the Druze community in Syria.