An Israeli army commander in the West Bank said today warfare with the Palestinians had heated up and vowed that his troops would shoot to kill armed enemies.
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Col Marcel Aviv, army chief at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem where a Palestinian sniper killed a soldier yesterday, said Palestinian sniper fire in the last three days had brought the fighting to a new level.
"In the area of Rachel's Tomb there has been gunfire almost every day for three days, and the result is of course escalation," Mr Aviv told Army Radio.
"The [Palestinians] are starting to shoot from a number of directions . . . at our outpost and the movement of the soldiers in the area . . . Our activity has to be, and is, that when we spot armed [men] we will be the ones to open fire, in an accurate and lethal way, with all our means," Mr Aviv said.
At least six Palestinians were wounded in yesterday's fighting, including a four-year-old girl, when Israeli tanks pounded the Paradise Hotel where the army said snipers were taking cover. A Jerusalem eye hospital said the girl's eye was removed.
Each side blamed the other for the bloodshed.
In a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell, Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon accused the Palestinians of escalating the uprising, an Israeli diplomatic source said.