Soldiers pelted with rocks and firebombs

Palestinians have thrown rocks and firebombs at Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The violence followed the death of eight Palestinians killed in an Israeli helicopter raid.

Troops in Hebron responded with rubber bullets after they were pelted with rocks and firebombs.

Guns were fired as thousands of mourners attended the funeral of the eight dead Palestinians.

Many waved green flags of the radical Palestinian group Hamas, whose offices were the target of yesterday's attack.

"We will not stop our uprising," Anan al-Atiri, a spokeswoman for the Fatah movement of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said at the funeral. "I think the coming days will be worse than before."

Israeli security forces warned that Palestinian militants are likely to attempt a major attack, while government officials defended the Nablus assault, which came under international criticism.

The raid killed six people in the third-floor Hamas office, including a senior leader. Two brothers, aged five and eight, were killed by shrapnel on the street below the offices.

Meanwhile violence has erupted in other parts of the country.

Palestinians opened fire in Gilo, a Jewish neighbourhood in a disputed part of southern Jerusalem where clashes have erupted frequently.

The Israelis fired tank shells and machine guns in a prolonged shoot-out