Family massacred in attack on Jewish settlement

Five Israelis, among them three brothers aged five, 12 and 16, were gunned down when at least one Palestinian seized a house in a Jewish West Bank settlement.

Troops stormed the house and killed the attacker, as the house went up in flames.

In response, about 50 Israeli tanks entered nearby Nablus, the West Bank’s largest city, early today.

‘‘This is a horrendous attack, and there always has to be a response for such things,’’ said Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin.

There was no immediate Palestinian Authority comment.

The attack on the Itamar settlement last night brought to 33 the number of Israelis killed in Palestinian shootings and bombings this week.

Sharon decided earlier this week - in a major policy shift - that troops would reoccupy some Palestinian land for every attack and remain there until terror stopped.

Yesterday the Israeli army began calling up reserves for what TV reports said would be a military campaign to be called Determined Path. The scope of the operation was not clear.

In late March, Israel launched operation Defensive Shield, the largest-scale offensive in 20 years, in which troops took over most West Bank towns for several weeks. That offensive aimed, but failed, to crush Palestinian militias.

Events in Itamar began shortly after 9pm (7pm Irish time) when two Palestinians armed with grenades and assault rifles entered the house of the Shabo family.

The attackers killed Rachel Shabo, 40, and her sons Neria, 16, Zvi, 12, and Avishai, five. The settlement’s security chief, who rushed to the scene, was also killed. Eight people in the house were wounded, including Shabo’s 11-year-old son who was in a serious condition.

Israeli commandos stormed the house, killing one infiltrator. In the exchange of fire, the two-story house went up in flames. Soldiers conducted searches after witnesses said a second attacker escaped.

In a phone call to The Associated Press, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility. In October, the small, radical PLO faction assassinated an Israeli Cabinet minister.

In the West Bank town of Jenin, meanwhile, Palestinians security officials a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and seven other people were wounded when Israeli troops blew up an empty building early today. The blast caused a nearby building to collapse, the security officials said.

The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the incident, but said its forces had blown up a bomb factory found in the town during the night.

In Nablus, witnesses said about 50 tanks and a number of armoured bulldozers entered the outskirts of the city from four directions. Israeli tanks fired sporadic bursts of machine-gun fire but there was no apparent resistance, and soldiers used loudspeakers to declare a curfew, witnesses said.

The Israeli army would not immediately comment.