The Palestinian group Hamas has said it will retaliate for the deaths of six Palestinian policemen. They were among eight Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in raids on several West Bank towns.
Ten Israeli tanks were involved in the raid on the self-rule village of Salfit, south of Nablus.
Witnesses said a Palestinian police officer died in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces after they entered the village to make arrests. Israel said five armed Palestinians were killed in the confrontation.
Israeli soldiers also arrested up to 50 people in the biggest sweep for militants in nearly 15 months of violence. In a separate incident, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in a shoot-out near the West Bank town of Hebron.
Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships also attacked Palestinian Authority institutions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The raids follow the Israeli government's declaration that the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, was irrelevant, and that all ties with him were being severed.
