The Israeli army had been given orders to use helicopter gunships and tanks to quell the Palestinian revolt if necessary amid bloody confrontations late Monday that claimed the lives of two Palestinians, and left tens injured.
A statement by the Israeli cabinet, issued early Tuesday, said that Israeli Prime Minster, Ehud Barak, instructed the army and security forces to extend their operations "to protect soldiers and civilians by all means appropriate," according to Jordan's Petra news agency, quoting Israeli radio as saying.
Confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli troops escalated in different West Bank cities and Jerusalem late Monday.
In the West Bank city of Hebron, witnesses said that Jewish settlers went on the rampage, breaking into several Palestinian homes and beating up residents, reported AFP.
Some 400 extremist Jewish settlers live in armed enclaves among a population of some 120,000 Palestinians in Hebron, which has witnessed violent clashes over the past 12 days of deadly unrest.
In the village of al-Khader near Bethlehem, witnesses said four Palestinians were wounded by bullets fired by Jewish settlers, said the agency.
The shootings came amid a wave of attacks by Israeli civilians against Palestinians, citizens of the Jewish state, in an escalation of the violence that has pitted Israeli troops against Palestinian demonstrators.
The Israeli media also reported several confrontations in both east and west Jerusalem between Arabs and Israelis, prompting an appeal for calm by the city's right-wing mayor, Ehud Olmert, AFP added.
In Shufat, a suburb of east Jerusalem, an Israeli was seriously injured when he lost control of his car after being pelted with stones by Palestinians, Israeli television said.
Among other incidents, an Israeli car was set alight by a Molotov cocktail in east Jerusalem, while Israelis stoned Palestinians in a suburb of west Jerusalem, the television said.
An Israeli was seriously injured when he was shot by a Palestinian at a bus station in Lod, southeast of Tel Aviv, it said.
It also reported arson attempts against synagogues in the port cities of Haifa and Jaffa, and Ramle to the south of Tel Aviv, saying that there was slight damage but no injuries, AFP added.
Meanwhile, hardline opposition Likud leader, Ariel Sharon, whose visit to a Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem triggered the violence, said the government must be more aggressive in restoring order.
"We will support the government as long as the violence lasts, but we consider that all the necessary measures have not yet been taken," he told the radio.
Sharon also called on Israeli Jews and Arabs to respect the law, referring to clashes between the two communities and between Israeli Arabs and police inside Israel - (Several Sources)
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