Undercover Israeli special forces last night shot dead four Palestinians including a 10-year-old girl in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Three of the dead are reported to have been militants an Israeli military source claimed were killed after they opened fire on the special unit to avoid arrest. The girl was killed by shots he claimed were mistakenly fired at another Palestinian car that appeared seconds later.
Palestinian medics and witnesses said plainclothes Israelis killed the three men in an ambush on their car and then fired wildly at a vehicle right behind it, killing the girl.
Israel radio said the first car contained fugitive members of the Islamic militant group Hamas, which has been spearheading a two-and-a-half-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israel for independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
It said the Israeli forces shot at the second car because they believed they were about to be fired on.
"An army unit went on an arrest operation but before they did anything they were fired on from a car and a gunbattle ensued," the Israeli military source said.
"It appears another vehicle entered the area at the time and was shot at. A tragic turn of events took place in the battle initiated by the terrorists in the midst of the town centre."
Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser identified the dead girl as Christine Shehadeh and said her parents, George and Najwa Shehadeh, and a 15-year-old sister in the car with her were taken to hospital with shrapnel wounds.
Israeli troops have reoccupied much of the West Bank in a clampdown on the Palestinian uprising and have conducted many raids, sometimes undercover, to capture suspected militants.
Earlier on Tuesday, soldiers shot dead a 12-year-old Palestinian boy during clashes with stone-throwers in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian medics said.
An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers shot two youths after they tried to climb on top of a tank to grab its mounted machine gun. Local witnesses said the second youth was in hospital in moderate condition.
It was the second killing of a Jenin youth in as many days by Israeli troops occupying the city.
Until Tuesday, violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had eased since U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq last week.
Israel strongly backs US-led efforts to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, one of its fiercest Arab foes and a supporter of the Palestinian uprising. Palestinians have denounced the invasion and held pro-Saddam rallies.
At least 1,950 Palestinians and 727 Israelis have been killed in violence since negotiations for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip hit an impasse.