Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon shoved aside US criticism of his policies today, with his forces continuing to pound Palestinian targets before a suicide bomber struck near a Jewish settlement.
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Israeli soldiers prepare to enter West Bank town of Tulkarem. Photograph: Reuters
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Three more Palestinians, including a paramedic, were killed in clashes with the Israeli army in Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank late today, Palestinian hospital sources said.
Earlier six Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces re-occupied the West Bank city of Tulkarem and two nearby refugee camps, after an overnight raid, while another died elsewhere in the West Bank and two in the Gaza Strip.
And a suicide bomber killed himself and wounded nine people in an attack on a commercial complex just outside Ariel, in the West Bank, one of the biggest settlements in the Palestinian territories.
The latest bloodshed brought the overall death toll from the 17-month-old Palestinian intifada to 1,396, including 1,061 Palestinians and 312 Israelis.
One of those wounded was in critical condition following the bombing, claimed by the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Barely an hour later, Israeli gunships fire at least two rockets on security buildings in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalya, including an office used by the PFLP.
Israeli tanks, backed up by helicopter gunships, rolled into Tulkarem in Palestinian-controlled territory in the northwestern West Bank overnight.
Around 50 tanks and armoured vehicles re-occupied it as well as the Tulkarem and Nur El-Shams Palestinian refugee camps, in an operation that also injured 35 people, two of them critically.
An Israeli bulldozer entered a school run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency on the edge of Tulkarem, destroyed walls and tore up the playground, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
Colonel Yair Golan told Israeli public radio the operation could last "as long as two days" and that it was aimed at "catching as many wanted militants as possible, as well as arms."
Another 10 civilians were wounded when an Israeli F-16 warplane attacked an empty Palestinian police headquarters in the center of Gaza City, hospital sources said.
Two Israeli helicopters also fired rockets on a position of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17 bodyguards in a village south of the West Bank town of Hebron, hours after hitting their headquarters in Bethlehem.
The attacks followed a day of bloodshed yesterday when a dozen Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed.
Late yesterday Israeli helicopter gunships rocketed a building next door to the Ramallah offices of President Arafat as he was meeting EU Middle East envoy Mr Miguel Angel Moratinos, and speaking on the phone with Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres.
The Israeli army unleashed a deadly wave of attacks on the Gaza Strip after a home-made Palestinian rocket hit a populated area of Israel for the first time on Tuesday.
AFP