A Palestinian policeman shot and killed one Israeli and wounded four others early today near Joseph’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site in the Palestinian city of Nablus, the Israeli military said.

Pragmatism won out over ideology today as hundreds of Gaza residents took a first step toward co-operating with the government’s plan to evacuate the coastal strip next month.

Israeli troops shot and killed an armed 17-year-old Palestinian in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus today, the army and a militant said.

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, was today in talks with security chiefs after his tanks were forced out of a Palestinian West Bank town by heavy resistance.