"What is the guilt of the two brothers Ashraf Khadir, 5, and Bilal Khadir, 8?", asked the independent Jerusalem-based daily Al-Quds, referring to the deaths of two children in the attack.

Hope turned into despair, smiles into tears of sadness

Al-Quds

"Hope turned into despair, smiles into tears of sadness in the eyes of those with a living conscience - if they still exist," it said of their deaths.

"These bloody physical liquidations of Palestinian political activists constitute a blatant violation of international laws, the human rights charter, and values of justice."

"Who convinced the Israeli officials that brute force can suppress a people's aspirations for freedom and independence," Al-Quds said.

It will take the Middle East region back to the vicious circle of bloodletting and destruction

Al-Ittihad

The Arabic-language Al-Ittihad described the Israeli leadership as a "government of disasters".

Catastrophe

"The continuation of the government of disasters' arrogance and open conspiracies, which are aimed at subjugating the Palestinian people, will inevitably lead to a strategic catastrophe at both the domestic and foreign levels.

"It will take the Middle East region back to the vicious circle of bloodletting and destruction."

It has been a terrible week. It's not over yet, there will be more to come

Haaretz

Israel's liberal daily Haaretz warned that "it has been a terrible week. It's not over yet. And there will be more to come."

The daily said the Israeli military "has taken off its gloves".

Premeditated

"This time it was Israel, not the Palestinian organisations, that stepped up the level of response. This is not a haphazard development but the result of thorough planning and serious premeditation following the perpetration of many terrorist attacks against Israel.

"Now Israel can only wait and see whether the upgrading of the targets it attacks will be perceived as some form of deterrent among the Palestinians or will result in an escalation of their attacks: A cycle of extremism has been created."

Under fire

The conservative Israeli daily, The Jerusalem Post, argued that the US secretary of state had it in for Israel.

Ariel Sharon: Hardline approach

"What has the Bush administration got against Israel? At every turn, regardless of what Israel has done to defend itself against intensifying Palestinian terrorism, Secretary of State Colin Powell, or one of his underlings, has been quick to launch a verbal broadside against the Jewish state.

"Whether it is the use of economic sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, the pinpoint targeting of wanted terrorists planning attacks, or even the demolition of buildings used to carry out armed assaults against soldiers and civilians, Israel, it seems, can do nothing right in Powell's eyes," the Post lamented.

If America finds the various measures Israel has adopted thus far to be objectionable, could the Secretary of State please specify exactly what he thinks Israel should do instead to fight terror?

The Jerusalem Post

The United States was using double standards in condemning Israel for using force to defend itself while doing likewise in periodically bombing Iraqi air-defence units.

"If America finds the various measures Israel has adopted thus far to be objectionable, could the Secretary of State please specify exactly what he thinks Israel should do instead to fight terror? If economic measures, military reprisals, deterrent strikes and punitive raids are not acceptable, then what, pray tell, is?," the Post added.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.