NETANYA (Reuters) - A Palestinian suicide bomber killed six people and himself and injured 110 outside a crowded Israeli shopping mall on Friday, in the deadliest such attack since a Palestinian uprising began last year.

Witnesses said a young Arab man ``with a cold look in his eyes'' was stopped by a security guard as he tried to enter the mall in the seaside city of Netanya and then detonated explosives attached to a belt around his waist.

The blast hurled bodies through the air. Mangled body parts later littered the area, along with shattered glass and twisted metal. Bloodied survivors screamed for help and witnesses wept.

The militant Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing at a rally in Gaza and said it was in response to the killing of five Palestinian paramilitary policemen on Monday in the West Bank, an attack Israel has since called a mistake.

The bomber was named as 21-year-old Mahmoud Ahmed Marmash, a Hamas member from the West Bank town of Tulkarm, 16 km (10 miles) to the east. His mother, who did not know he was a Hamas member, said he had been a devout Muslim who gave her a bag of sweets before setting off on his suicide mission.

Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli driving near a Jewish settlement close to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday, the Israeli army said. A woman was seriously wounded.

President Bush condemned the ``new level of intensity'' in Middle East violence and urged leaders to take a speak out clearly against violence.

U.N. Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen called urgently for political dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, saying ``the situation is on the verge of escalating to uncontrollable levels.''

The explosion in Netanya, just north of Tel Aviv, tore down the front facade of the modern indoor mall, creating panic among shoppers who had packed stores ahead of the Jewish sabbath.

An abandoned pram stood upright among the rubble. Police said the baby had survived but was in serious condition.

Police said the dead were four women and three men, including the suicide bomber. It said 110 had been hurt, some of them critically.

A dead man lay sprawled face-down on the sidewalk after the blast, and the ground was stained with blood.