Following the legal challenge to the Israeli Prime Minister in Belgium over alleged human rights abuses, several high-ranking Israeli security officers have reportedly approached their Foreign Ministry to ascertain whether they might face problems travelling in Europe.
The officers - some still serving, some retired - have acted as a result of legislation in certain countries granting the authorities the ability to prosecute for suspected human rights violations committed on foreign soil.
The daily newspaper Ha'aretz reported on Thursday that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had even begun "mapping" justice systems in European states seeking to isolate countries that might be "problematic" for prominent security services officials. The fear is that these officials could face war-crimes and torture charges.
Israeli fears were first aroused about two months ago when a complaint was lodged with a Belgian court against the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, over the massacre of Palestinians by pro-Israeli Christian militiamen during the 1982 Lebanon war, when Mr Sharon served as defence minister.
Mr Sharon is taking the legal challenge seriously, with the Israeli government hiring a Belgian lawyer in an effort to prevent the investigation from reaching the indictment stage.
The director of Israel's Foreign Ministry, Mr Avi Gil, was quoted as saying that the ministry advised all leaders in Israel not to visit those nations whose legal systems might cause them "inconvenience and embarrassment".
Concern in Israeli diplomatic circles has increased further in recent weeks with growing opposition to the appointment of Mr Carmi Gillon, a former head of the country's internal security service, as Israel's ambassador to Copenhagen. Danish politicians and human rights groups have opposed the appointment on the grounds that Mr Gillon headed a security service which tortured Palestinians.
In Gaza yesterday an armed disturbance, arising from a family feud, left nine Palestinians dead and several others wounded, according to witnesses and hospital officials. The fighting began when members of the Abu Hassanein family killed Anwar al-Jurf to avenge the death of their brother, allegedly killed by Jurf several years ago in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, witnesses said.
Automatic machine-gun fire echoed in the street as the families turned their guns on one another. Attempts by Palestinian police to stop the battle were unsuccessful as the clash intensified and the death toll rose, to include members of other families and bystanders.
Meanwhile, Israeli-Palestinian violence continued, with Israeli tanks shelling Palestinian police outposts in the Ramallah area of the West Bank, in retaliation for the killing of Ronen Landau, a 17-year-old Israeli hit by sniper fire north of Jerusalem.
The tanks, which thrust into Palestinian-controlled territory, destroyed three outposts belonging to Force 17, a Palestinian Authority security wing.
In west Jerusalem a bombing plan was foiled when a busdriver found explosives planted in a water melon on his bus, parked in the city's largest mall, an Israeli police spokesman said.