Middle East: Four more Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip yesterday as thousands called for revenge at the funerals of seven Palestinians killed by Israeli missiles on Tuesday.
Palestinians fired several rockets across the border at the Israeli town of Sderot and mortar shells into settlements.
In the West Bank outside Jenin, meanwhile, 20 Palestinian schoolchildren were hurt, at least three critically, by a bomb blast in their classroom. The explosive device had apparently been brought into the room by one of the pupils.
Israeli officials said that the device had been made by a Palestinian group for future us and placed no credence on a claim of responsibility by an extremist Jewish organisation; the local Palestinian mayor said that the shrapnel featured Hebrew lettering.
The upsurge in fatalities came as Mr Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), the Palestinian prime minister-designate, delayed presentation of his cabinet because of an argument with President Yasser Arafat about who would be named interior minister, overseeing any effort to crack down on groups attacking Israeli civilians.
Mr Arafat wants to keep the incumbent minister, Mr Hani al-Hassan, who has initiated no concerted campaign against the bombers; Mr Abbas wants the former Gaza security chief, Mr Mohammad Dahlan, who has said that he would try to tackle them.
President Bush has said that the US will only publish the so-called "road map" to Palestinian statehood after Mr Abbas has taken office.
For the first time this year, Mr Arafat's diplomatic isolation in his Israeli-besieged headquarters in Ramallah has been broken by a prominent politician: Germany's Foreign Minister, Dr Joschka Fischer. Israeli officials had tried to talk Dr Fischer out of the visit, arguing that it would boost Mr Arafat and weaken Mr Abbas.
Yesterday's fatalities in Gaza included a 16-year-old boy. As masked Hamas gunmen vowed revenge at yesterday's funerals, aides to Mr Abbas said that such Israeli strikes served only to reduce his prospects of winning support for a halt to attacks on Israelis.