JERUSALEM – Israeli officials yesterday issued fresh demands that the Palestinian Arab leadership clamp down on militias after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a bus station in southern Israel, causing numerous injuries.

The bombing in the desert city of Beersheba was the first such attack on Israel since it withdrew from all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four others in the northern West Bank.

“Israel, for its part, has taken necessary steps to further progress with the Palestinians. The Palestinians, for their part, continue to refuse to take the necessary steps to prevent terror against Israel,” an official in the office of Prime Minister Sharon, David Baker, said.

Palestinian Arab leaders sharply condemned the bombing.

Israeli authorities said the bombing would have taken a worse toll without the intervention of a bus driver who grew suspicious and summoned security guards. Two guards were injured. At least 40 other people were treated, mostly for minor injuries and shock.

The terrorist group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, the Israeli press reported late yesterday.

Israeli officials said yesterday’s bombing proved the need for the separation barrier that Israel is erecting.

Also yesterday, Israel began removing bodies from the Jewish cemetery in the evacuated Gush Katif settlement bloc, the main cluster in the Gaza Strip. All 48 bodies are to be reburied this week, nearly one-third of them in a cemetery on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem’s walled Old City.

Mr. Sharon’s oldest son, Omri, was indicted yesterday on corruption charges stemming from his role in the elder Sharon’s 1999 campaign for leadership of the conservative Likud Party.

Omri Sharon is accused of exceeding fund-raising limits in gathering contributions for his father and using fake companies to hide the sums.