Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has insisted army raids into the Gaza Strip would go on, a day after a bloody incursion that killed 14 Palestinians drew strong international rebukes.
In fresh violence, four Israelis were injured, one of them seriously, in an ambush near Hebron in the West Bank, while new clashes erupted between Palestinian police and supporters of the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's prime minister, forced to bow to US pressure last month to end his siege of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's base, was in a defiant mood, even though Washington said it was "deeply troubled" by yesterday's storming of the Gaza town of Khan Yunis.
"The complicated operation we carried out was a success. It was an important one and there will be other anti-terrorist operations of this sort in the Gaza Strip," Mr Sharon told army radio.
His comments appeared to fly in the face of US attempts to calm the region ahead of its threatened strikes against Baghdad, as Israel warned that while it respected Washington's agenda, it had its own security priorities.
The US State Department said the United States was "deeply troubled" by the operation in a crowded civilian area in the town of Khan Younis.
But, in a more muted response, Mr Sean McCormack, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said: "Israel has a right to defend itself.
"Israel should, however, consider carefully the consequences of its actions - that includes the need to take every measure to prevent the loss of innocent life in fighting terror," he said.
The attack also drew irate reactions from the Palestinians, who said Mr Sharon's declaration was tantamount to a declaration of war.
Elsewhere, a group of Palestinian gunmen ambushed a car at a junction near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Four Israelis were wounded in the attack. Initial reports on army radio said one of the Israelis had died of their wounds.
And the Palestinian security forces are still searching for a renegade Hamas operative who, together with 20 of his men, abducted and murdered a Gaza police chief, in apparent revenge for the killing of two Islamists a year ago in anti-US riots which the police tried to suppress.
In gunbattles after the murder, four Hamas supporters were shot dead as police tracked down Imad Aqel, the local Hamas leader who carried out the hit.
AFP