Israel tanks fire on Jenin crowd

Tanks have entered Jenin and other West Bank towns

Israeli troops have fired tank shells at Palestinians in a marketplace in the West Bank town of Jenin, killing at least three civilians and injuring more than 20 others.

An Israeli army spokeswoman told BBC News Online that the unit in Jenin had "erred in its action".

The army has begun an investigation into what it says are accidental killings.

The Jenin incident came during Israeli incursions into major West Bank towns in response to two suicide bombings in Jerusalem this week.

Palestinian sources said four people were killed in Jenin, including three children.

People had gone to the Jenin market in the belief that the Israelis had lifted a strict local curfew.

An army spokesman said soldiers were on patrol when they spotted some Palestinians who had broken the curfew and were heading towards them.

He said troops fired two tank shells to scare off the crowd.

Witnesses say that when the firing occurred, the market had grown crowded with people taking what they thought was an opportunity to replenish supplies.

Medical staff at the local hospital said they were overwhelmed by the number of casualties.

Night raid

Meanwhile, Israeli troops and about 50 tanks entered the West Bank town of Nablus.

The incursion came a few hours after Palestinian gunmen killed five Israeli settlers - including three children and their mother - inside a house in the nearby Itamar settlement.

We're in the valley and there aren't any fences here or anything

Itamar resident

The gunmen infiltrated the settlement after nightfall. They burst into a house, opening fire at the family inside and then shooting in all directions.

The first gunman was killed as Israeli troops stormed the house. The other escaped.

Itamar resident Rinat Cabara told Israeli television: "I was hanging laundry outside and I heard shots being fired so I ran home."

"When I entered I saw my husband with his gun near the window... We're in the valley and there aren't any fences here or anything."

Itamar was the scene of another attack in May in which four Jewish students at an Orthodox seminary were shot dead.

There has also been violence in the Gaza Strip. Three Palestinians were killed near the Erez crossing when Israeli soldiers fired on a man who had thrown a grenade, killing the attacker and two workers.

In a separate incident south of Gaza city, one Palestinian boy was killed by tank fire.

Also in the Gaza Strip, one Israeli was wounded in a shooting incident at the Netzarim Jewish settlement.

Israeli call-up

These incidents come a day after Israeli helicopter gunships destroyed several Palestinian metal factories in the Gaza Strip, which they suspected of manufacturing weapons, and in the wake of this week's suicide attacks in Jerusalem

Five settlers were killed in Itamar

Those attacks - in which 26 Israelis died - prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to press ahead with a new policy of seizing Palestinian land.

There has been a partial call-up of Israeli reserve troops to allow the army to progressively reoccupy parts of the West Bank

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has convened his security cabinet of senior ministers on Friday, to discuss how to proceed.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says the cabinet is deeply divided over whether it is possible or desirable for the army to reoccupy Palestinian towns.

The latest suicide bombings prompted Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to call for an immediate halt to such attacks.

US President George W Bush has postponed a long-awaited speech on the Middle East peace process because of the upsurge in violence.

Israeli troops are now occupying most major West Bank towns with tanks, backed up by helicopters.