Ten Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli strikes against "terrorist operations" yesterday, as Israel pressed the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, to renounce terrorism following the horrific attacks in the US.
Later in the day, an Israeli settler woman died after she was fatally wounded in an attack by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank, Israeli military officials said. The woman, a resident of the Alfei Menashe Jewish settlement just inside the West Bank, was hit in the head and evacuated to hospital in the Israeli town of Kfaer Saba, but later died.
The woman's death brings to 797 the total number of people killed since the start of the intifada, or uprising, nearly a year ago, including 609 Palestinians and 165 Israelis.
Military sources said that an Israeli man was also shot and slightly wounded in a similar attack near the West Bank town of Ramallah, just north of Jerusalem.
Earlier, nine people were killed and nearly 50 wounded in the West Bank during a second night of incursions in and around the autonomous Palestinian town of Jenin in a move the Israeli army said targeted "bases for terrorist activity".
However, a senior Arafat aide, Mr Nabil Abu Rudeina, described the Jenin raids as "a new massacre against Palestinians". A tenth Palestinian was killed and two wounded when Israeli troops opened fire on their taxi near Qurara town in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources.
Tanks rolled into Jenin under cover of darkness and opened fire, destroying a Palestinian police post during exchanges of gunfire.
"Several suspects involved in hostile terrorist activity against Israeli targets were arrested," an Israeli army spokesman said. Palestinian sources said three people were found dead in a Jenin refugee camp and nearly 50 people wounded.
No Israeli casualties were reported.
The flow of blood continued to obstruct efforts to secure peace talks between Mr Arafat and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres.
Mr Peres urged Arafat to "leave the world of terrorism" following Tuesday's attacks in the US, and linked an end to Palestinian hostilities to a resumption of talks.
Mr Arafat has condemned the attacks as a "crime against humanity", and has postponed a scheduled landmark trip to Syria.
Mr Peres said: "Yasser Arafat now has an opportunity to turn the page and definitively leave the world of terrorism; this is the real test for him."
A Palestinian spokesman, Mr Abu Rudeina, blamed Israel for the latest escalation of tension. "The Israeli government is responsible for this escalation and is continuing its aggression against the Palestinian people, especially in these circumstances," he said, referring to the timing of the incursions just hours after the attacks in the US.
Israeli tanks withdrew from Jenin town, but the blockade of the area was maintained preventing some parents of the three who died in the refugee camp from reaching the funerals.
Following the withdrawal from Jenin, the tanks entered nearby Tammun where a member of the Palestinian security services was reported killed, and 20 Palestinians wounded.
Three Palestinians were killed in the village of Arraba, and two were killed at Tubas in the same area.
Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopters penetrated into Palestinian sectors of the West Bank city of Jericho early this morning, Palestinian security sources said.
Heavy exchanges of gunfire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen could be heard as the troops moved some 500 metres into the autonomous zone in the south of the city, near the Aqbat Jaber refugee camp, they said.
They added that about 20 Israeli tanks were involved in the operation, and were setting off flares to light the way for the night-time advance.
