Israeli tanks attacked a security facility in Palestinian-ruled Jericho today and four Palestinians were killed during fierce fighting with Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin.
"In the fighting in Jenin, a Palestinian-ruled city surrounded by Israeli forces for the past two days, soldiers killed three Palestinians and wounded 11 in an attack on a local government building", a Palestinian security official said.
"A fourth Palestinian died when he blew himself up next to an Israeli tank", the official said.
"Israeli armoured, infantry and engineering units completed an attack on the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority's forces and destroyed a wing used by Force-17 and General Intelligence", an Israeli army spokeswoman said about the Jenin raid.
"The operation was aimed at disrupting terrorist activity in this area", she said.
Palestinians said the Israeli incursions were signs of a new offensive against them while world attention was on the unfolding events in the United States following Tuesday's terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
But Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres said efforts were again under way to arrange a meeting with Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat on a truce after nearly a year of hostilities.
"There is a tentative place and a tentative date, but we still need to tie up loose ends," he told reporters, hours after US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said at a Washington news conference he had urged Mr Peres and Mr Arafat to hold talks.
An Israeli diplomatic source said Israel and the Palestinians had agreed in principle to a meeting on Sunday at Gaza airport. Palestinian officials could not confirm the report.