An Israeli helicopter missile attack on a car killed two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah this evening bringing the death toll in the Middle East today to eleven.
The action followed the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip into the working class town of Sderot - just yards from the home of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Three people were wounded in the attack.
Israel responded immediately to the attack by firing tank shells at two Palestinian police positions in the northern Gaza Strip.
The US Secretary of State Colin Powell today spoke by telephone with Mr Sharon, who told him Israel would continue to take all necessary measures to protect the lives of its citizens.
Today's bloodshed began when a Palestinian armed with an assault rifle, grenades and a knife killed three Israelis and wounded 25 at a Tel Aviv restaurant before dawn. The gunman was then shot dead by police.
This was followed by an explosion in the Shatti refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip which killed Lieut Col Ismail Abu Medden from the Palestinian naval police and injured at least 14 others.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast.
Later, a Palestinian police officer was killed and two others wounded by the Israeli army during an incursion into the Palestinian-controlled area of Dura near Hebron in the West Bank. The officers were part of the elite Force 17 guard of Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat, the sources said.
Soon afterwards a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in Afula, northern Israel, also killing one Israeli, police said.
At about the same time an Israeli woman settler was shot dead by Palestinians and her husband wounded as they drove in a car near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Israeli military sources said.
The death toll over the past week now exceeds 80, as the unprecedented pace of violence and death showed no sign of letting up.
The new outbreak of violence followed Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon's declaration yesterday in which he said the Palestinians "should suffer many losses" and "should be hit very hard.
"Whoever wants to negotiate with them should hit them hard first, so that they understand that they will not get anything through terrorism," he said
US President Mr George Bush was due to hold talks with Egyptian President Mr Hosni Mubarak today to discuss the conflict.
They are likely to address an idea floated by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah for offering normal relations between Arab countries and Israel in return for full Israeli withdrawal to the borders as they stood before the 1967 Middle East war.