NABLUS, West Bank – A Palestinian Arab suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the northern West Bank settlement of Kedoumim after nightfall yesterday, killing three Israelis, settlers and Israeli press said.

Army Radio said police suspect three Israelis, two women and a man, gave a ride to a Palestinian Arab in their car, and the Palestinian Arab blew himself up, killing all four. The report said the Palestinian Arab was dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew.

The Israeli military said the vehicle had Israeli license plates, and there were at least three bodies inside. They were burned so badly that identification was difficult, the military said.

The Israeli rescue service said the car was destroyed by the blast and there were several bodies inside. Medics could not immediately approach the car because it was still burning nearly an hour after the blast.

The attack was the first since Israel’s legislative elections on Tuesday. Official results showed that the winner was acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has pledged to pull Israel out of much of the West Bank.

Daniella Weiss, head of the Kedoumim local council, said the Israeli dead were an elderly couple from the settlement and a young hitchhiker.

David Baker, an official in the Israeli Prime Minister’s office, said the attack “took place while the Palestinian Arabs refused to lift a finger to prevent terror attacks against Israelis, and we saw the results tonight.”

Rafaela Segal said she heard the blast and could see the gas station from her house in the settlement.

“I saw thick smoke rising from the gas station and at first I thought the gas station was on fire,” she told Israel Radio. “Security forces are searching the area.”

There was no immediate reaction from the new Palestinian government, dominated by Hamas. A group from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus claimed responsibility for the explosion. The group is a faction of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a violent offshoot of Fatah, which is headed by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.