Israeli tanks and helicopters targeted Palestinian security installations in the Gaza Strip early yesterday morning, in retaliation for the firing of mortar shells by the Palestinians on two communities inside Israel - the second time this has happened in the last two weeks.
The tit-for-tat exchange, in which electrical power to thousands of Gaza residents was also knocked out, came a little over 24 hours after high-ranking Israeli and Palestinian security officials met in what appeared to be yet another fruitless effort to re-establish security co-operation.
While there were no injuries on the Israeli side, the Palestinians reported five people slightly wounded in the rocket attacks. Palestinian police left their headquarters in a residential neighbourhood in Gaza City when they heard the helicopters approaching.
Some Israeli ministers threatened yesterday that if Palestinian violence continued, the army would be ordered to step up its response even further. Mr Uzi Landau, the Minister of Public Security, who is known for his hardline views, said Israel should hit Palestinian targets "every day, hour after hour" until the Palestinians ceased hostilities.
But the Defence Minister, Mr Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who said yesterday he still saw Mr Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Authority President, as a peace partner, conceded that there was no magic formula for ending the violence. "When you are fighting terror, there is no quick fix," he said in an interview in the daily Ma'ariv. "In this war there is one rule: whoever tires first, loses."
The attacks, which came on the eve of the Passover holiday, sparked renewed calls by the Palestinians for a UN observer force to be sent to the region to protect them. Earlier this month, the US used its veto to frustrate a Palestinian-tabled resolution in the Security Council calling for the establishment of such a force.
Palestinian officials, who have been concerned by US criticism of Mr Arafat in recent weeks, said yesterday they were encouraged by the State Department's criticism of Israel's intention to expand two West Bank settlements. "I think that any statement against settlements and against the Israeli policy in expanding Jewish settlements is a positive statement," said Palestinian Minister Mr Ziad Abu-Ziad.
Meanwhile, clashes continued yesterday in the territories, with Palestinians reporting over 20 people injured after Israeli troops fired rubber-coated metal bullets at stone-throwing protesters in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Qalqilyah, Bethlehem and Hebron.
Thousands of Palestinians attended the funeral of Mr Iyad Hardan, a senior Islamic Jihad activist who was killed when a telephone booth he was using in the West Bank city of Jenin blew up on Thursday. Palestinians insisted he was assassinated by Israel.