Jerusalem----October 8......It's a quiet morning in Israel. The only sound one hears is the occasional roar of a passing car on a nearby street. The music and laughter are gone. As Israel enters the last two days of a holiday weekend, many are waking up to the shocking news of a massacre consisting of three barbaric terror attacks which have claimed over 40 Israeli lives in Egypt.

Thousands of Israelis are leaving their hotels and camping grounds in the Sinai Peninsula as they make a modern day exodus to the Israel Egyptian Taba border crossing just south of the Israeli city of Eilat. Egypt had offered a temporary escape from the daily pressures of terrorism and economic depression in Israel. It was another country, with different scenery offering the Israeli casinos, coral reefs and desert hiking trails under deep blue skies at a much cheaper cost than a stay in Israel.

Liron Cohen, on her way out of Taba, said, "Its very sad, I've traveled here so many times. But this us my last time here. I'm leaving with very sad feelings."

The Taba Hilton Hotel, which sits directly on the Egyptian Israeli border, is in ruins with smoke rising from the site. Israeli rescue workers using sniffer dogs and sophisticated rescue equipment designed for earthquakes slowly, quietly search for signs of life. Reports of a truck bomb parked outside the entrance of the hotel, murdered over 40 people and injured over 150 in a powerful blast that could be heard 2 miles away.

The deadly blast at the Hilton hotel in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Taba on the border with Israel was claimed by the previously unknown "World Islamist Group", in a telephone call to AFP in Jerusalem.

"Jamaa Al-Islamiya Al-Alamiya (World Islamist Group) claims responsibility for the explosion at the Taba hotel, carried out in revenge for the Palestinian and Arab martyrs dying in Palestine and Iraq," the caller said.

The 10 floor, 430 room Hilton Taba Hotel sits directly on the Egyptian-Israel border about a seven minute car ride south from Eilat. Emergency rescue services from Eilat, Beer Sheva and nearby Israel Defense Forces bases are being allowed to enter Egypt to evacuate the dead and wounded. Eilat is the only city near the scene of the blast.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said that Israel would help evacuate any of the 12,000 to 15,000 Israelis who wish to leave the Sinai.

"We told everyone to get out of there. We gathered everyone off the beach. We wouldn't leave anyone there. We packed as many people into a taxi as we could and we got out of there," Eyal, a guest at Ras a-Satan told Israel Channel 1 TV on his way out of the Taba crossing.

"We thought maybe at first that the Israel Air Force was bombing somewhere, as an exercise. The Beduin there told us that maybe it was landmines being set off, but I didn't believe them for a second. I knew straight away it was a terror attack," Eyal said.

Udi Argon, from Tel Aviv, speaking to Israel Channel 1 TV from Moon Island in 'little' Ras a-Satan (Between Ras a-Satan and Mehagene) said there were two explosions at the resort. Two Israelis were killed, and one woman suffered severe head wounds, he said. The woman is still at the scene.

Argon said there are 300 Israelis currently visiting Moon Island.

"We gathered all the Israelis on the beach. We tried to get out ourselves, but we're waiting for the sunrise. There are about 300 of us here. We were about 20 meters from the car when it exploded. Our bungalow actually shielded us.

"Somebody drove two cars with explosives right up to the bungalows. Everybody here is fine, and we hope to get to the border by sunrise. If somebody can help us and send us buses that would help a lot," Argon said.

He added that the car bombs were about 10 meters from the center of the dining area in Moon Island. The first car exploded at 10:25 p.m. and one minute after that another bomb went off.

"Unfortunately it was an extremely large attack, and they managed to bring the cars right up to the bungalows. Bodies were flung into the water. There is nobody to talk to here, no Egyptian authorities, no ambulances, a total 'balagan' (bedlam). Some of the Beduins here were killed and wounded. The Ministry of Defense called me on my satellite phone, and told me that they are sending two buses and an ambulance. But I told them that won't be enough. Most of those in Ras are families," Argon said.

Eytan, another visitor to Moon Island, said "I think that they need to send us more than two buses. We need help from Israel as soon as possible. We want to get out of here as soon as possible."

Israel Channel 1 TV broadcast an interview with a Magen David Adom ambulance unit which was making its way to Nuweiba, and was not aware of the casualties at Moon Island.

There is hardly any cellular phone reception further south in the Sinai, and getting in touch with family and friends is possible mostly close to the Taba area.

Four hours after the blast, the Israel Defense Forces took command of the scene, according to the army spokeswoman, Brig.-Gen. Ruth Yaron, but there were delays in sending Israeli forces and rescue workers across the tense border.

On Friday, the charred hulks of Toyota pickup trucks could be seen at the two sites. One was blasted apart, its motor lying on the ground 20 meters away.

Amsalem Farrag, whose uncle and cousin own camps in Ras Shitan, said the two blasts were only five seconds apart. He said the camps were full of vacationing Israelis.

Egyptian government spokesman Magdy Rady suggested the blasts were related to the Israeli military operation against the Palestinians in the neighboring Gaza Strip, where 84 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli offensive that began on Sept. 29 to stop Islamic terrorists from firing homemade Qassam rockets into Israel.

The security adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Jibril Rajoub, told Al-Jazeera television that no Palestinian factions were responsible for the explosions.

Egypt upgraded a security alert at the airports in Cairo and in the southern tourist cities of Luxor, Hurghada and Aswan. Police were searching cars coming in and out of Luxor and Hurghada and there was a heavy police presence around hotels.

Yaron, the Israeli army spokeswoman, said Israeli Brig.-Gen. Efi Idan "took command over the event in Taba" four hours after the blasts. She said, however, "We still have some trouble in sending over all of the forces and their equipment to Taba."

Israelis consider Taba part of their own back yard - partly because Israel controlled the tiny enclave for 22 years, and Israel built the hotel that was wrecked by the terror blast.

Israel captured the Sinai Desert from Egypt in the 1967 Mideast war and returned it in 1982 under terms of a peace treaty - except for Taba, a tiny parcel of land on the Red Sea shore next to Eilat.

Israel claimed the international border placed Taba inside Israel, but international arbitrators ruled against the claim, and Israel returned Taba, along with the $41 million hotel, to Egypt in March 1989.

Though a border separated Israeli Eilat from Egyptian Taba, thousands of Israelis regularly streamed across to visit Taba and place bets in the casino at the Hilton hotel. The luxury hotel offered a trek out of the country for a cost much cheaper than one can find in Eilat.

A month ago, Israeli officials issued a warning of possible terror attacks against Israeli tourists in Sinai and recommended that Israelis stay away, but Israel's Foreign Ministry said early today that 12,000 to 15,000 Israelis were in the Sinai Desert as of Thursday.

Up until Thursday, there had been no serious attacks against Israeli tourists in Taba. However, in 1985, an Egyptian policeman went berserk and opened fire on Israelis in Ras Burka in the Sinai, killing seven.

Eran, an Israeli visitor to Ras a-Satan said that as soon as the blasts went off, the resort's Beduin staff all gathered and stood guard at each of the entrances to the beach bungalows to protect their Israeli guests. Eran said, however, that the Beduin were reluctant to drive the Israelis to the Taba crossing.

Amit, another visitor to Ras, said, "that's it, we will never go back to Sinai. This is the exodus from Egypt in 2004," he said.