Heavy fighting raged between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen today in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the army and Palestinian officials said.
An Israeli soldier and at least six Palestinians were wounded, including a four-year-old girl in critical condition and two other children aged seven and eight, Palestinian sources said. The army did not comment on the casualties.
"There is a heavy gun battle going on in Bethlehem", an army spokesman said, blaming the clash in the town just outside Jerusalem on a serious Palestinian escalation in the violence. He said the army had fired tank shells and heavy machineguns.
Palestinians said the army was to blame for the fighting.
A Palestinian medical official said four-year-old Jessica Safar was with her uncle, Sammy, in the Aida refugee camp when she was hit by shrapnel. The official said she was in surgery with critical wounds to the eye, waist, pelvis and chest.
Two helicopters hovered over the Palestinian-ruled town as the fighting raged. Palestinian medical sources said ambulances could not reach the area as the Israeli fire intensified.
Earlier today, an Israeli helicopter gunship killed an Islamic militant in a missile attack on his car in the Gaza Strip, hours after Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli soldier in the West Bank.