Israel said tonight it would withdraw from autonomous Palestinian areas after three days of incursions if the Palestinian Authority took measures to end attacks on Israel. Israel has launched daily raids since Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi was assassinated on Wednesday.
Today the military killed eight Palestinians, including three security force members. At least three Israeli missiles struck a Palestinian site in the West Bank town of Bethlehem this evening, wounding up to ten people, according to witnesses.
Israeli gunfire killed a 48-year-old woman at her home in the autonomous town of Bethlehem this afternoon, and Israeli tank fire killed a 17-year-old boy in Bethlehem earlier. In an autonomous Palestinian area near Bethlehem, a Palestinian woman is reported to have been shot dead by Israeli troops.
Earlier a Palestinian policeman was reported to have died of wounds he received during the incursion. Two other policemen and a civilian were killed during the incursion into the towns of Qalqiliya and Tulkarem.
A 15-year-old Palestinian was also killed when he approached troops near Bethlehem. The army said the teenager stabbed and lightly wounded a soldier, although Palestinian security officials denied he was armed.
Twenty Palestinians and one Israeli have died in violence since the assassination last Wednesday of Israel's Tourism Minister, Rehavam Zeevi.
The Palestinian Cabinet Minister and chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, has said the only way to end the conflict is for the two sides to begin talking again, without preconditions.
