Israeli troops seized two Palestinian activists in the West Bank in a swift retaliation to mortar attacks on Jewish settlements.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement said an Israeli undercover unit had kidnapped two of its men yesterday in an Israeli-ruled area near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The army described the men as activists from Fatah's Tanzim unit suspected of involvement in shooting at Israeli citizens and soldiers.
The strike on the Gazan Palestinian police station less than two kilometres (one mile) from the offices of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat came despite security talks between the sides this week. Mr Arafat was not in Gaza at the time.
Hospital sources said a policeman was in a serious condition from a head wound and that at least 30 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy involved in confrontations with Israeli soldiers near Bethlehem, were injured clashes.
In the West Bank town of Hebron today around 200 students blocked the road to Bethlehem, throwing rocks and bottles at Israeli soldiers who dispersed the crowd using rubber-coated metal bullets.