Violence continued today to outrace diplomacy and faltering hopes for a cease fire here, as a suicide bomber struck in Tel Aviv and Israeli troops sealed Yasir Arafat into what Palestinian officials described as three rooms in his ruined compound in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

The Bush administration indicated qualified approval of the Israeli invasion. Before dawn, it backed a resolution by the United Nations Security Council calling on Israel to withdraw. But later, President Bush placed the blame for Mr. Arafat's predicament squarely on the Palestinian leader. [Page 11.]

''I believe he can do a lot more to prevent attack,'' Mr. Bush said, a remark that shocked Palestinian officials. ''I fully understand Israel's need to defend herself.''

Palestinian officials had hoped that pressure by Arab nations on the Bush administration would prompt it to restrain Israel. But speaking from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Mr. Bush, who has refused from the beginning of his term even to shake Mr. Arafat's hand, said only that Israel should ''make sure there is a path to peace as she secures her homeland.''