A Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers near the West Bank town of Hebron early this morning despite the army being under orders to show restraint.
And at least nineteen Palestinians were wounded, four of them seriously, when they clashed with Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip today.
Hospital sources said eleven of the injured were children under 12 who had been throwing stones at Israeli troops.
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Mr Yasser Arafat: under effective house arrest in Ramallah
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The man was killed after he and a friend were shot at after approaching an Israeli outpost and calling out "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), an Israeli army statement said. He was later found to be unarmed.
Palestinian sources said the Gaza clashes erupted after a tank and a bulldozer, accompanied by ground troops armed with automatic rifles, moved at least 10 meters into Palestinian areas of Rafah, firing heavy machine guns.
An 11-year-old boy was seriously wounded in the back when he was hit by a round from a heavy machine gun mounted atop the tank as it moved in the direction of a refugee camp.
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The clashes come despite the fact that the Israeli government has reportedly ordered the army to "show restraint" in the Palestinian-controlled territories in order to allow the Palestinian Authority to resume its crackdown on militants.
"We will do everything we can to give the Palestinians a chance to fight terror. We will be restrained in our actions," a security source said, declining to give more details.
Today Israel’s hardline Infrastructure Minister Mr Avigdor Lieberman said he would pull his party out of Israel's coalition government if a decision is taken to lift the house arrest of Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat.
"If the cabinet decides to allow Arafat to leave Ramallah I will call for a party meeting, and the party will leave the government within a week," said Mr Lieberman.
Earlier, public radio reported that the Israeli cabinet will meet tomorrow to discuss whether to end Mr Arafat's house arrest.
Israeli radio said Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres support the move to end the house arrest, saying Mr Arafat had met Israel's conditions.
The arrest on Thursday of three men suspected of killing Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi last year met the main condition set by Israel to allow Mr Arafat to leave Ramallah.
But Mr Sharon declined to say whether Mr Arafat would be allowed his freedom of movement.
AFP