Fatma Omar An-Najar was the first suicide bomber to be claimed by Hamas for nearly two years. Its armed wing said that she was aged 57, but her family said that she was 68.

Israel said that its soldiers had spotted her and threw a stun grenade, causing her to set off the explosives early.

Women suicide bombers are rare in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but there have been two this month. Bringing women closer to the front lines appears to mark a change in tactic.

This month Hamas organised a march of women across an Israeli cordon to end a mosque siege in Beit Hanoun.

Eight other Palestinians were killed yesterday on the second day of a large-scale Israeli military operation in northern Gaza.

Israel says that the operation is intended to curb rockets fired by Hamas and other militant groups. Palestinian factions say that the rockets are their response to Israeli air strikes and border closures.

The violence came as Khaled Mashal, Hamas’s supreme leader, began talks in Cairo aimed at securing a prisoner exchange with Israel, and the formation of a new Palestinian unity government.

It also coincided with a four-day visit by Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

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