The parents of a Palestinian teen recruited to be a suicide bomber are urging militants to stop using children for such attacks.

However, Hussam Abdo's mother said if her son was old enough and chose to become a bomber, she might have encouraged him.

As for Hussam himself, he reportedly wanted to die because no one liked him and in heaven, he could be happy.

That information came from a video interview released by the Israeli military.

Some Israeli newspapers used headlines such as "I wanted Virgins in Paradise."

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Hussam was quoted as saying: "A river of honey, a river of wine and 72 virgins. Since I have been studying Quran I know about the sweet life that waits there (in Paradise).

"But when the soldiers stopped me, I didn't press the switch. I changed my mind. I didn't want to die anymore," he said. "I'm sorry for what I did."

His family has described Hussam as emotionally immature and easily manipulated.

Hussam was wearing blue jeans, a t-shirt and a grey vest laden with explosives on Wednesday.

Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint, tipped by intelligence that a bomber might be coming through, spotted Hussam.

The dramatic images of Wednesday's tense encounter were captured by TV cameras and broadcast on television screens all around the world.

There was outraged reaction from Israel.

"There is a disturbing new trend which we witnessed yesterday with the active recruitment of a 14-year-old boy by the Palestinian terrorist organizations to be a
human time bomb against Israeli civilians," said Dore Gold, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

But human rights groups say almost 500 Palestinian children have died as a result of Israeli violence since the late 190s.

Tens of thousands more have deep psychological scars.

"This is a society where the only way to prove yourself is to fight against the Israeli occupation. There are no sports, no games. The only game now is the occupation and the fight,"  Samar Awad, 38, a Nablus resident, told The Associated Press.

Reports say the boy was recruited by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigage, although the group denied it.

The group has ties to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

This is the second time this month that children have been caught with explosives at a checkpoint.

In the first incident, 11-year-old Abdullah Quran was detained at a check point near Nablus. An Israeli soldier discovered he was carrying between seven and 10 kilograms of explosives in a bag.

The IDF said the boy did not know that the bag contained explosives. He said he was given five shekels - the equivalent of about $1.50 -- to carry it through the checkpoint and give it to an old woman who would be waiting for him. The boy was questioned, but later released.

The IDF said that 29 suicide bombings have been carried out by youth since September 2000.