Mid-East battles flare again

Israeli tanks were in action overnight in Hebron

Gun battles broke out again between Israeli and Palestinian forces in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, after Palestinian gunmen shot and wounded two Jewish settlers.

Correspondents said the whole city was shaking late on Thursday evening with the heavy exchange of fire, including several bursts of Israel tank fire against an outpost of the elite Palestinian brigade, Force 17.

Israeli fire earlier destroyed a Palestinian police post

The settlers were attacked outside the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba, critically wounding one of them.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that Israel will retaliate "on the ground" from now on to armed Palestinian attacks, according to the French news agency AFP,

The situation in Hebron is among the most explosive in the Middle East, with a small minority of hard line settlers living among an indigenous Palestinian population of more than 100,000.

Earlier on Thursday evening, three Hebron Palestinians were wounded by Israeli soldiers' gunfire after clashes that broke out after anti-Palestinian acts by Jewish settlers.

The settlers attacked Palestinian cars and houses after one of their own was seriously injured by Palestinian gunfire while driving near Kiryat Arba.

Nablus shelled

Earlier in the day Israeli tanks rumbled into the outskirts of the West Bank town of Nablus, and fired about 10 shells, one of which killed a Palestinian policeman.

The action came after four Jewish settlers, including a an infant hit by shards of glass, were wounded in two separate shooting incidents in the West Bank.

Jewish settlers are in a tiny minority in Hebron

The violence in Israeli and the Palestinian territories was meant to have been calmed by a US-backed ceasefire declared a month ago.

Palestinian spokesman Nabil Abu Ruainah called the shelling "a very dangerous escalation".

"The Palestinian position is clear - the international community should intervene," to enforce and monitor the US ceasefire, he added. Israel is strongly opposed to outside intervention.

'Legitimate targets'

The Israeli shelling in Nablus killed a Palestinian policeman, identified as Mohammed Abu Fayyad, 22, who was stationed at the northern checkpoint in Nablus.

Four other officers and a 12-year-old boy were wounded in the same attack, Palestinian police said.

Israeli police have been especially vigilant after attacks on settlers

Earlier on Thursday, two Palestinians were slightly injured as they were driving near the settlement of Kiryat Arba, while a third Palestinian was wounded in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers overnight.

The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, has been calling for a halt to the violence in a bid to re-start the peace process.

But BBC Middle East correspondent Frank Gardner says most Palestinian militants consider Jewish settlers to be legitimate targets and are determined to drive them out.

More than 30 people have been killed since a ceasefire was brokered by the United States a month ago.

A total of about 650 people have been killed since the Palestinians began their uprising in September last year to protest against Israel's occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.