Gunmen strike settlement on eve of U.N. visit

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- On the eve of a U.N. fact-finding team's visit to the Jenin refugee camp, Palestinian gunmen infiltrated a Jewish settlement and killed at least four Israeli settlers, including a 5-year-old girl.

Israeli troops were conducting a manhunt for the gunmen early Sunday after the attack on the Jewish settlement of Adora, near the West Bank town of Hebron. The shooting happened about 9:45 a.m. Saturday (2:45 a.m. EDT) when the gunmen, dressed in Israeli army uniforms, entered the settlement through a fence, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The gunmen killed the girl and wounded her two brothers in one house before entering a second house, killing a woman and wounding her husband inside, military officials said.

The Jerusalem Post identified the victims as Arik Becker, 22, Danielle Shefi, 5, Katrina Greenberg, 43, and Ya'akov Katz, 51. At least seven others were wounded in the shooting, one seriously, according to the IDF.

IN-DEPTH  CNN NewsPass Video    •  Palestinian politics  MORE STORIES   •  IDF: Arms workshops destroyed in Rafah  EXTRA INFORMATION   •  Gallery: Palestinian fatalities  RESOURCES   •  Victims of terror   •  TIME.com: Orchestrating a common ground

Yaakov Shefi, the father of Danielle, was in the synagogue for Sabbath prayers during the shooting attack. Shefi, a policeman, told The Associated Press he rushed to his home when he heard the shots, but reached the scene when it was already over. His wife told him she didn't hear the attacker entering her house, Shefi said.

"He just opened the door. My wife and the children were sitting on the bed and he just sprayed them with bullets. She remembers pushing the children under the bed. She said, 'Be quiet and don't cry, so that they don't come back,' " he said.

"She saw our daughter breathe her last breath. Anyone capable of looking a 4-year-boy and a 5-year-girl in the face and then shooting them is not human."

The gunmen went house-to-house in the settlement for some time. Witnesses said the attack may have lasted more than 40 minutes; army officials told The Associated Press the attack lasted about 15 minutes.

The IDF killed one gunman, according to military sources. Troops backed by helicopters were searching house-to-house for the others in a nearby village, The Associated Press reported.

The shooting came the day after the United Nations agreed to postpone by a day the arrival of a U.N. fact-finding team to investigate the bloody Israeli-Palestinian combat in the Jenin refugee camp because Israel objected to the team arriving on the Jewish Sabbath. (Full Story)

The U.N.-delegation was set to begin its investigation at the camp Sunday.

Palestinian officials say hundreds died in what they are calling a massacre at the camp during Israel's military offensive. Israel vehemently denies the charge, saying about 50 Palestinians, mostly fighters, were killed. Israel lost 23 soldiers in the fighting.

There has been no independent corroboration of Palestinian claims that a massacre took place.

Israel lifts curfew

In Bethlehem, Israeli authorities lifted a curfew around the Church of the Nativity for the first time since a standoff began three weeks ago between Israeli forces and Palestinians hiding in the holy site.

The Israelis have lifted curfews in Bethlehem periodically during the impasse to allow residents to buy needed supplies. But Saturday's action was the first time shop owners could enter the area surrounding Manger Square and view the damage to their businesses and the streets.

They found windows and walls broken and cracked by Israeli tanks, especially around the market area, and at least a dozen burnt-out cars.

Earlier Saturday, three gunshots were heard near the church, and about 30 minutes later a person was carried out of the church compound on a stretcher, CNN's John Vause reported. The person's condition was not clear, but the Israeli military said the person was seen attempting to plant a bomb in a doorway and was shot by Israeli forces.

At Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's besieged Ramallah headquarters, negotiator Salah Ta'amari discussed the status of recent talks with Israeli negotiators to end the church standoff, sources close to the talks said. A fifth day of talks is scheduled for Saturday night, the sources said.

The sources also said a framework for an agreement to end the standoff was tentatively in place, and that negotiators hoped to get Arafat's approval for an announcement as early as Sunday.

About 200 Palestinians remain inside the church, including many civilians, but Israel says 30 Palestinians wanted by Israel are inside as well. Israel contends civilians inside are being held hostage, while Palestinians say the civilians fled to the church to escape the fighting outside.