Four people were reportedly wounded tonight in the West Bank tonight when an Israeli gunman opened fire on a group of Palestinians.
Israeli public radio reported the shooting took place near the Jewish settlement of Anatot, northeast of Jerusalem, and the man had opened fire because he thought he was being attacked.
The Israeli army could not immediately confirm the report.
The news came as CIA Director Mr George Tenet left the Middle East having brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinians, lifting hopes that more than eight months of violence between the sides might end.
Before wrapping up his week-long mission, Mr Tenet hosted an inaugural session of an Israeli-Palestinian-US security committee which will oversee the implementation of the truce.
Shrouded in secrecy, the talks between Palestinian and Israeli security officials took place at an undisclosed location just hours after Mr Tenet won Palestinian acceptance for his plan to bolster a fragile ceasefire.
Describing the talks as productive and constructive, a senior US diplomat said: "We are now looking for mutual steps on the ground to fulfil immediate requirements of the work plan."
US President Mr George W. Bush, speaking in Brussels, said Mr Tenet had told him he was cautiously optimistic about the plan to halt the fighting.
"All the parties must now take additional steps that will place them on the road to a just and lasting peace," Mr Bush added.
Israeli Major-General Giora Eiland, who was at the meeting, said soldiers were issued with new, strict rules of engagement allowing them to open fire only when they feel they are under immediate risk to their life.
But the militant Palestinian group Hamas said it would ignore any truce and continue its fight against Israel.
Another fundamentalist group, Islamic Jihad, called the deal an insult to those who had died fighting Israeli occupation.
AFP &