Castigated in the Arab world, and criticised by the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, for "disproportionate" use of force, Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, also found himself under fierce attack at home yesterday for dispatching F-16 warplanes to hit Palestinian targets in the worst weekend of violence since Israeli-Palestinian fighting erupted last September.
While a small group of rightwing demonstrators outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem yesterday urged Mr Sharon to use still more force, and to destroy the "Palestinian terrorist authority", ex-military chiefs, media commentators and even some of his ministers criticised the Prime Minister for sending in the jets after Friday's suicide bombing by a Hamas militant killed five Israeli civilians in Netanya.
The fighter-jets, used for the first time against Palestinian targets since the 1967 war, struck at Palestinian Authority installations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the course of the weekend, 16 Palestinians were killed.
Mr Sharon told his cabinet yesterday that he would "do whatever it takes" to protect Israeli lives, and warned them to be ready for a "prolonged conflict". His Justice Minister, Mr Meir Sheetret, sided firmly with him, asking, in reference to the Hamas suicide bombing: "What type of people carry out such acts against children? The other side has to understand that when citizens on our side get hurt, they will also suffer. What are we supposed to do - retreat, give up, flee?"
The Israeli army's chief of operations, Major-Gen Giora Eiland, asserted that the F-16s had been called in because they could most accurately hit the targets - which included a prison in Nablus holding a leading Hamas militant, who was injured in the attack.
But Mr Ze'ev Schiff, Israel's most respected military analyst, said none of the chosen targets justified the use of fighter planes, and blamed Mr Sharon for escalating a "limited war to a more radical and dangerous level". Mr Menachem Shalev, an analyst writing in the Ma'ariv daily, described the strikes as "a gross diplomatic-strategic error".
The Minister of Science, Mr Matan Vilnai, warned that the air assault could "galvanise support worldwide" for the Palestinians - an argument echoed by the former air force commander, Gen Eitan Ben-Eliahu, who said Mr Sharon might be "playing into the hands" of the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, "by bringing closer the international intervention he wants to see here".
All eyes now are turned to the US, where the Mitchell Commission report into the eight months of violence is to be formally released today. The Vice-President, Mr Richard Cheney, yesterday urged both sides to think hard about the implications of the deepening violence, but gave no indication of imminent US diplomatic intervention.
President Mubarak of Egypt made clear yesterday that Saturday's call by Arab League foreign ministers for a cessation of political contacts with Israel would not see Egypt abandoning its peace efforts. He said he was "amazed" by Israel's use of F16s, which he called "utterly illogical", and warned that the region was heading for "catastrophe".
Mr Arafat claimed at the weekend that Israel was "trying to destroy us". Tens of thousands of Palestinians attended the funerals of Palestinian victims in Nablus, and one more man was killed by Israeli fire when hundreds of marchers stoned soldiers at a checkpoint.
Israeli forces fired at least seven missiles at targets in Gaza City last night, from helicopters and land positions within Israel, according to witnesses and Palestinian security officials.
The missiles hit several buildings, including a Palestinian national security building and one belonging to Force 17, a security force which serves as Mr Yasser Arafat's bodyguard.