An Israeli woman was killed today and her husband seriously injured by Palestinian gunfire on their car in the West Bank, despite a two-day-old truce, Israeli military radio reported.
The couple, with their three children in the back seat, were travelling close to the Tekoa settlement near Bethlehem when Palestinians opened fire on the vehicle, the radio claimed. The children were unhurt.
Mr Dore Gold, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon, criticised Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat for failing to observe the ceasefire.
"This blood attack proves that international pressures brought to bear on Yasser Arafat were not sufficient in that [Arafat] is not applying the ceasefire that he committed himself to respecting," Mr Gold said.
Asked about an eventual meeting between Mr Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres, Mr Gold said: "Such a meeting would be hard to organise while the violence continues on the ground".
Earlier today, Mr Peres had praised Mr Arafat's efforts in decreasing the violence.
"Arafat has prevented attacks in the past few hours, and we have appreciated his intervention in this prevention," Mr Peres said without giving any details of the attacks that were averted.
AFP