The Associated Press
Saturday, June 2, 2001; 5:54 p.m. EDT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip –– Dozens of foreigners living and working in the Gaza Strip left Saturday amid fears of an Israeli military retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed the bomber and 18 young people at a Tel Aviv disco.

The foreigners packed lightly, expecting to return within a few days, after being contacted by their consulates and embassies in Israel, said a Palestinian employee of a foreign consulate who requested anonymity. He said he knew of at least 20 foreigners who left Gaza on Saturday.

Eighteen young people were killed late Friday when a suicide bomber blew himself up near dozens of people waiting in line to enter a Tel Aviv beachfront nightclub. Ninety Israelis were wounded in the attack, including 14 who were in serious or critical condition.

After previous bomb attacks, Israel has responded by shelling Palestinian security installations, but not civilian offices. But in the West Bank and Gaza Saturday, the Palestinian Authority ordered its employees to leave their offices.

Other foreigners took measures to prevent their homes and offices from becoming Israeli military targets, flying their national flags from official residences and offices.

A large Omani flag flew from the top of its ambassador's home Saturday, while Egyptian flags were hoisted on the front gate and the roof of the residence of the Egyptian representative to the Palestinian Authority, which is located near Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Gaza.

Four Australian flags were erected over a tourist resort north of Gaza City operated by Abdel Karim Sabawi, a Palestinian-Austrialian.

The U.S. embassy said recent events, including the brief detention of an American journalist by militants several days ago, heightened its concern for the safety of U.S. citizens in Gaza.

"Americans should not travel to Gaza at the present time and those who live there should depart to a safer location when they can do so," the embassy said in a travel warning issued to American citizens Saturday.

A convoy of cars carrying foreign staffers of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency left the agency's compound in Gaza Saturday afternoon. The cars were loaded with luggage.

U.N. officials would not say whether the United Nations had ordered its foreign staffers to leave the Gaza Strip.