JERUSALEM - Israeli troops shot and killed nine Palestinians in scattered incidents across the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday, and re-entered Bethlehem after a brief hiatus for Christmas celebrations.
At least 30 Palestinians were injured and seven arrested, while four Israeli soldiers were wounded, officials said.
The surge in violence ended a period of relative peace that had lasted several days; it reflected the Israeli strategy of attacking suspected Palestinian gunmen before they can strike first. Israeli officials say they believe the strategy has helped curb suicide attacks, which have not occurred in more than a month.
Palestinian leaders say the Israeli operations are part of an effort to assassinate important Palestinians. They and others accuse Israel of trying to torpedo an Egyptian-led effort to persuade the main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, to cease the killings of civilians inside Israel.
"At a time when the Palestinians are trying with Egypt's help to reach an agreement for a calming down, Israel is fueling the cycle of violence," said the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Maher.
Palestinian leaders also accused Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, of trying to deflect attention from a political scandal that is damaging his party's reputation.
There were signs that Israel was planning even more aggressive action to crush the 27-month-old uprising. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported yesterday that the Israeli army had begun building special security zones around some Israeli settlements in the West Bank to protect them against Palestinian attacks. Under the plan, watchtowers and fences would mark off the zone; Israeli soldiers would be permitted to fire on anyone stepping inside.
Palestinian leaders said the real intention of the project was to expand Israeli settlements and thereby sabotage an American-sponsored plan to create a Palestinian state by 2005.
"Sharon wants to make sure by 2005 that it will be impossible to create a Palestinian state because of the settlements," Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, told the Associated Press.
This week, in a speech kicking off the Likud Party's parliamentary campaign, Sharon claimed that a "victory" over the Palestinians would enable him to strike a peace deal.
For their part, various Palestinian groups swore revenge last night, raising the possibility of a new round of bloodletting.
"The Sharon government, the Israeli occupation army and Israeli assassination teams committed a series of savage crimes against the Palestinian people," the Palestinian leadership said in a statement last night.
On re-entering Bethlehem yesterday, Israeli troops reimposed a curfew as well, pushing the Palestinian residents back into their homes. Israeli forces now occupy virtually every major Palestinian town in the West Bank.
Fighting flared up yesterday in pockets across the occupied territories, illustrating the systematic nature of the Israeli sweeps. The troops, many dressed in civilian clothes, surrounded homes, cars and a hospital in what witnesses described as lightning-fast operations.
The first encounter occurred just after midnight, when Israeli officials said their troops spotted two militants approaching the Israeli settlement of Netzarim. The soldiers opened fire, killing the two men. Afterward, the soldiers said one of the men had been wearing camouflage fatigues and carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. The second man, the Israeli sources said, was taken away in a Palestinian ambulance.
Palestinian sources said one of their fighters had been killed and another was missing.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces swooped into the village of Kabatiyah and encircled the home of a suspected leader of the militant group Islamic Jihad. Israeli sources said they opened fire and killed the suspect, identified as Kahlik Abu Roub, after he began throwing grenades at soldiers. Four soldiers were reported wounded.
A spokesman for Islamic Jihad confirmed that one of its fighters had been killed, according to Reuters.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, Israeli officials said soldiers killed two militants after coming under heavy fire. But Palestinian sources said one of the dead men was an unarmed 18-year-old bystander shot during a demonstration that broke out when Israeli troops reimposed a curfew.
Hospital officials said at least 20 others were wounded.
In Ramallah, three Palestinians were killed in separate incidents. In the first, Israeli officials said soldiers killed a suspected Hamas fighter, identified as Bassam Ashkar, when he resisted arrest and drew a gun. Palestinian sources said Israeli soldiers walked up to a car Ashkar was sitting in and sprayed it with bullets.
Palestinian sources said Israeli soldiers killed an unarmed teen-ager during a riot that broke out later yesterday. An Israeli army official said the man was killed when he tried to throw a brick at an Israeli soldier.
Also in Ramallah, Israeli officials said their soldiers tried to arrest a suspected militant working as a guard in the local hospital and shot him as he tried to flee.
In another West Bank incident, in Tulkarm, Israeli military officials said they killed a suspected Palestinian militant when he tried to evade arrest.