Ariel Sharon has called on his army to "act in an aggressive manner against nests of terrorism", according to Israel public radio. However, the Israeli Prime Minister also asked his army to "avoid Palestinian civilians being hurt". He made the comment while visiting military positions in the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians have urged the UN Security Council to take action to end the unrest in the Middle East. The deputy head of the Palestinian mission to the UN said that he wanted the council to condemn Israeli air raids on Palestinian targets. However, he said that he would accept a separate condemnation of the weekend suicide bombings.
Earlier, the Palestinian President accused the Israeli Prime Minister of not wanting the Middle East peace process to proceed. Yasser Arafat also accused Israel of trying to torpedo his crackdown on militants. It was Mr Arafat's first public comment since the Israeli government declared his Palestinian Authority a "terror-supporting entity".
Ariel Sharon has directly blamed Mr Arafat for a series of suicide bombings in Israel at the weekend in which 26 people were killed. Palestinian officials deny that Mr Arafat is responsible for the attacks and have described Israel's actions as "state terrorism".
In a separate development, US President, George W Bush, says that he has frozen the assets of a leading Islamic foundation in the United States as well as two overseas groups. They are suspected of raising money for Hamas, the organisation believed responsible for the weekend suicide attacks in Israel. Mr Bush said that offices belonging to the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development had been seized.
He tonight again demanded that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hunt down those responsible for a string of weekend suicide bombings and bring them to justice.
The European Union has urged Israel not to destroy the Palestinian Authority. A spokesman for the European Commission said that while the EU recognised the right of the Israeli government to defend itself against terrorism, it called on Israel to make a measured response.
He added that Israel still needed Yasser Arafat's autonomous administration as a peace partner and to fight extremism. He said that, while the EU recognised the right of the Israeli government to defend itself against terrorism, it called on Israel to make a measured response.
In a separate development, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, has said that his Labor Party will have to consider its future in the coalition government. Mr Peres also accused the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, of trying to bring about the downfall of the Palestinian Authority.
The comments came amid a wave of Israeli attacks on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It is reported that up to 60 schoolboys were among 120 people wounded in an Israeli attack in the north of Gaza City. Two Palestinians were killed in the attack.
The targets were buildings, which housed PA security forces, but Palestinian sources say the buildings had been empty for some time and the victims were pupils leaving a nearby junior school.
Earlier today, two Apache helicopters swooped in over the West Bank city of Ramallah and fired several rockets at a police headquarters inside the Palestinian Authority compound. Five policemen were injured. Yasser Arafat was in his Ramallah office when a missile hit an entrance to the building.
Before that, five young children were taken to hospital after an Israeli tank sprayed a house on the outskirts of the city with machine gun fire.
It is also reported that an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles at a Palestinian military intelligence building in the town of Salfit, between Ramallah and Nablus. The Israelis say the attacks are in retaliation for the weekend suicide bomb attacks, which killed 26.
The multiple bombardment by Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships was the largest simultaneous air strike at Palestinian targets since the start of a 14-month-old Palestinian uprising.
Israeli tanks have moved into Palestinian areas too, tightening their grip on the territories, and suggesting that further action is now imminent. Israeli forces are reported to have made an incursion into the airport in Gaza city this morning. At least three armoured vehicles entered the grounds of the airport, and were said to be digging up the runway, which was used by Mr Arafat to make trips abroad.
Last night, the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won his cabinet's backing to declare the Palestinian Authority an "entity that supports terror". It also included Yasser Arafat's own Fatah group on the list of organisations that Israel considers terrorist. The move opened the door for Israel to increase military action against the Palestinians.
A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority said that Israel's current actions were making the prospects of peace even more remote, after 14 months of violence.
