HADERA, Israel – A 20-year-old Palestinian Arab blacksmith blew himself up at a falafel stand in an open-air market yesterday, killing five Israelis and wounding more than 30 in the deadliest attack in the country in more than three months.

The bombing stifled faint peace hopes following Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip. The blast also embarrassed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who only hours earlier had scolded terrorist groups for repeatedly violating a truce.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, saying the attack was to avenge the killing of its West Bank leader by Israeli forces this week.

The bomber struck while the market in the central town of Hadera was bustling a day after being closed for the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.

After the attack, the bloodied body of a man in his 50s lay on the ground among scattered fruits and mangled metal shards. Rescue workers covered other bodies with blankets, walking on pools of blood and shattered glass. A section of the falafel stand’s metal roof hung from a eucalyptus tree high above the market

A White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, condemned the bombing and called on the Palestinian leadership to crack down on terrorists.

“The Palestinian Authority needs to do more to end the violence and prevent terrorist attacks from being carried out,” he said. “The terrorist attacks that take place only undermine the leadership of President Abbas and undermine his principle of one authority, one law, one gun.”

Mr. Abbas, in a speech before parliament, lashed out at the terrorists, saying they had no right to violate a February cease-fire. “No one has the right to respond here and there, unilaterally,” he said.

Later, Mr. Abbas condemned the suicide attack, saying: “It harms Palestinian interests and could widen the cycle of violence, chaos, extremism, and bloodshed.”

In a phone call to the AP, Islamic Jihad said the bombing was to avenge the killing of Luay Saadi, leader of the group’s military wing in the West Bank. Saadi died in a shootout with Israeli soldiers Monday.

In Gaza yesterday evening, dozens of masked Islamic Jihad terrorists held a news conference at which they celebrated the attack in Hadera as a “great victory as a message to our beloved Palestinian people and Islamic and Arab nations.”

Yesterday also marked the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Islamic Jihad chief Fathi Shekaki in Malta.

Islamic Jihad signed on to an informal truce with Israel in February, but made the pledge meaningless by reserving the right to retaliate for any perceived Israeli violations. The last four suicide bombings in Israel were carried out by Islamic Jihad. These blasts killed 15 Israelis and wounded dozens.