Six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli tank incursion into the Gaza Strip this morning following an attack on a nearby Jewish settlement, further damaging a fragile week-old ceasefire in the region.
Five were killed in one incident when tanks blasted a police building, and a sixth died shortly afterwards as fighting raged in a northern suburb of Gaza City, close to the Jewish settlement of Alei Sinai, where Palestinian gunmen shot dead two young Israelis last night.
Israel considers Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority responsible for the attack on the settlement, an Israeli official said.
"This attack is the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli army will take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of civilians and soldiers," cabinet secretary Mr Gideon Saar told the army radio station.
"If the Palestinian Authority, which has undertaken to curb terrorist operations, fails to do so, our army will take care of it," he added.
Following the attack on the settlement the Israelis bombarded Gaza City with tanks and helicopters, while Israeli tanks penetrated into a Palestinian area of the northern Gaza Strip.
Mr Saar remained vague about the long-term impact of the settlement attack and retaliation on a fragile week-old ceasefire that was shaken to the core by the eruption of violence overnight.
"The nature of operations carried out will be determined day by day according to the situation on the ground," he said.
Mr Arafat pledged to curb the violence as part of the ceasefire deal, while Israel undertook to ease its blockade of Palestinian towns.
The attack on the settlement of Alei Sinai in the northern Gaza Strip was claimed by the hardline Islamic movement Hamas, which has refused to recognise Mr Arafat's truce deal.
An Israeli government official said last night that the cabinet would have to determine if Mr Arafat was really committed to stopping the hardliners, and if so, how he would be able to do it.
AFP