Israel said today it would begin using "guerrilla" tactics against Palestinian militants and rely less on large-scale military operations.
"The method of operation is going to change . . . we will be using when necessary guerrilla warfare against terrorism rather than large-scale forces moving into the area," said Mr Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon. "We'll rely more on intelligence", he said.
"There will be more . . . pinpointed operations, small-scale operations, that's what we call guerrilla warfare-type operations".
Mr Sharon said in a speech yesterday Israel was changing its methods of confronting violence in the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation but failed to elaborate.
Israel moved forces into or around six Palestinian towns after Palestinians assassinated an Israeli minister last month.
Under heavy international pressure, Israel pulled its troops out of Bethlehem and neighbouring Beit Jala last week and left Qalqilya yesterday.
Israel has also come under international criticism for what it calls its targeted killings of individual Palestinian militants, well-planned surprise attacks which Palestinians call assassinations.
"I believe that the use of the sort of incursions that we used with large forces has exhausted itself", Mr Gissin said.
He said Israel had accomplished its goal of arresting and killing militants during the moves into Palestinian territories.
- A Palestinian was hurt today when an Israeli tank fired on the taxi he was in near the Gush Katif Jewish settlement bloc in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian police said.
Palestinian police also accused an Israeli tank of deliberately ramming another taxi head-on near the Netzarim settlement in the northern Gaza Strip, although the Israeli army said the incident was a traffic accident involving a jeep.
The Palestinians said four people were hurt, one seriously, in the collision, while an Israeli army spokesman said five Palestinians and three Israelis were injured when a military jeep accidentally smashed into the taxi.