Four people were killed when gunmen attacked an Israeli settlement in the West Bank yesterday in the first such assault since Israel launched a four-week-old military sweep through Palestinian-ruled cities.
Meanwhile, a UN mission to find out what happened during Israel's three-week military operation in the Jenin refugee camp waited in Geneva for a green light to depart for the region.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed to hold the team back at the request of Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, to give the Israeli cabinet time to discuss the fact-finding mission at its meeting this morning, a UN official said.
The Israeli army said four people had been killed and six wounded, one of them severely, in the attack by one or two gunmen on Adora, a few kilometers west of the divided city of Hebron. The army had earlier put the death toll at five.
The attack came a day after US President George W. Bush insisted Israel must end its military offensive "now," after another Israeli raid defied his earlier demands.
"The attack this morning against Israeli citizens in the West Bank proves that terror has not yet been eradicated," Israeli government spokesman Aryeh Mekel said.
There was no immediate Palestinian comment.
Hebron was the only big West Bank city not reoccupied in Israel's offensive, perhaps because the army feared a full-scale assault would endanger about 400 Jewish settlers living in heavily guarded enclaves among 120,000 Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unleashed the West Bank campaign on March 29 after suicide attacks killed scores of Israelis. Israel says many of the attackers came from the Jenin refugee camp, scene of the fiercest fighting in the offensive.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on Adora and the assailants appeared to have escaped.
Israeli media said two gunmen had entered a house in Adora and fired on a sleeping couple before moving to another house and opening fire. Settlers remained confined to their homes as security forces combed the area.
In Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers besieging the Church of the Nativity wounded a Palestinian inside, an Israeli military source said. "The man was messing with some cables near the door of the church and he was armed so we fired on him. He will be taken by ambulance for medical treatment," the source said.
Beefed up by security advisers at Israel's behest, the UN team had been due to leave Geneva for Tel Aviv. Annan's agreement comes after Israeli officials insisted it be made clear that the mission was limited to the West Bank camp.
Palestinians say hundreds of civilians may have died in the Jenin camp, many in homes flattened by tank fire and bulldozers.
Israel first accepted the mission, then threatened to block it, apparently fearing it would find itself in the dock.
RSS