Jerusalem - Israel sent police and troop reinforcements into major cities ahead of the two-day Jewish New Year starting at sundown last night.
Israel imposed a full closure last Friday on the West Bank and Gaza for the Rosh Hashana holiday, barring entry to all Palestinians, except on humanitarian grounds, until Wednesday.
The Islamic group Hamas, whose armed wing has killed scores of Israelis in suicide attacks since 1993, has vowed vengeance for the killing by Israeli security forces of two leading militants outside the West Bank city of Hebron.
Yesterday a Jerusalem magistrates' court ordered police to release to house arrest a Jewish settler jailed as a suspect in the killing of a 17-year-old Palestinian.