Palestinians killed as blockade bites

Israeli troops are enforcing the blockade in Gaza

At least four Palestinians have been killed during clashes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The deaths followed Israel's re-imposition of blockades on Palestinian towns in the West Bank and Gaza.

Funerals were held on Tuesday for victims of Monday's violence which led to the blockades - but in turn led to yet more clashes.

Israeli settlers have also been mourning their dead

Trouble flared at the funeral for three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis where gunmen fired shots into the air and crowds called for revenge.

In the ensuing fighting, two Palestinian youths, one of them a 13-year-old, were killed.

Another teenager was shot dead at a military post near Ramallah in the West Bank and a 50-year-old man was reported to have died following violence also near Ramallah.

Monday's upsurge in violence appears to show a change of tactics by the Palestinians, who are reported to be carrying out more ambushes of Israeli settlers and soldiers.

In response, the Israeli commander in the West Bank, Major General Yitzhak Eitan, said the closure orders would be more stringent than in the past with only food and medicine permitted to enter or leave the blockaded areas.

A Palestinian teenager watches a burning tyre in Gaza

Our correspondent Chris Morris says life in the West Bank has been paralysed by the army's decision to close roads between the main Palestinian towns and cities.

More than 100,000 Palestinians who normally work in Israel have been prevented from reaching their jobs for more than a month and now they cannot even travel around the West Bank.

Some people have been walking through checkpoints, but roads are physically blocked and Palestinian vehicles cannot move.

In Bethlehem, tourist sites are deserted and local people bitterly denounce the new restrictions as yet another humiliation imposed by the Israeli authorities.

But the Israeli army says the conflict has entered a new phase and is determined to respond to armed attacks on Jewish settlers and military vehicles which use roads in the West Bank.

If the new security measures remain in place, many Palestinians who are already in dire financial straits will be plunged into a new crisis.

Israel hopes that the threat of economic hardship will lead to a reduction in violence. But our correspondent says anger is high and the restrictions could have just the opposite effect.

Strong action

The Israeli prime Minister, Ehud Barak, who has been holding talks with outgoing US President Bill Clinton is to chair an emergency cabinet meeting on his return.

Ehud Barak: Returning home early from foreign trip

He has accused the Palestinian leadership of encouraging violence and calling for holy war against Israel. He has promised strong action against those responsible for attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.

The clampdown is a return to the widespread sanctions against Palestinians that Israel lifted in mid-October after committing itself to a ceasefire accord brokered by the US at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The attacks on settlers coincides with a call by Yasser Arafat's Fatah party for the Palestinians to drive out Israelis from occupied land by Wednesday.

This date - 15 November - marks the 12-year anniversary of a symbolic Palestinian statehood declaration.

Mr Arafat has held direct talks with the militant Hamas movement in what is seen by observers as part of his efforts to unify Palestinian political and military policy towards Israel.

Hamas, the leading opposition movement to Mr Arafat in the Palestinian territories, has called for a intensification of the Palestinian intifada and attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers.