Israeli tanks opened fire in the northern West Bank town of Jenin on Friday, killing four Palestinians, including three children in what the Israeli army said appeared to be an error made by soldiers who fired on Palestinians breaking the curfew.
Palestinian residents said they had heard that Israel had lifted the three-day-old curfew, and some witnesses said the market had already become crowded with people replenishing supplies.
Several hours earlier, Palestinian gunmen seized a house in a Jewish West Bank settlement, killing a woman and her three sons before soldiers stormed the house.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened his Security Cabinet of senior ministers on Friday to discuss how to proceed after four days of Palestinian suicide bombings, settlement infiltrations, Israeli military retaliation and other violence that has left 33 Israelis and 12 Palestinians dead. In a major policy shift earlier this week, Israel decided its troops would gradually reoccupy Palestinian until terror stops.
