In less than 24 hours Palestinians have launched two revenge attacks killing at least five Israelis and wounding about 40 others. Police killed the Tel Aviv attacker at the scene after he killed three people and wounded 25 others with an M-16 assault rifle in a restaurant in Tel Aviv.

"We were dancing and all of a sudden we heard gunshots, we all hid under the tables" said Israeli eyewitness in Tel Aviv. Israeli radio said the al-Aqsa brigades, which are linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, had claimed responsibility for the latest attack in Tel Aviv.

In Afula, northern Israel, a Palestinian bomber blew him self up on a bus, killing one person and injuring five others. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bus bombing in a faxed statement, identifying the bomber as 21-year-old Abdul Karim Issa Khalil Tahayna from Jenin.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pledged to keep hitting back against attacks, adding that unless the Palestinian side "feel they have been defeated, it will be impossible to return to the negotiating table".

Israeli troops launched raids against Palestinian targets on Monday, which killed at least 16 Palestinians. The wife of a Palestinian Hamas member Hussein Abu Kweik and his three children were killed after an Israeli tank shell destroyed their car in Ramallah. Two people in a passing vehicle were also killed. Israeli helicopter gunships fired rockets at a Palestinian security building in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said. In the deadliest attack, six Palestinians including four children were killed.

Also in the West Bank town of Hebron and Dura, a nearby Palestinian-controlled town a Palestinian police officer was killed and 10 others were wounded in exchanges of fire.

But despite the escalating violence, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak presented a plan to Washington that he host a summit between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders as soon as possible.

The violence has shocked Israelis and Palestinians and raised the toll to at least 944 Palestinians and 311 Israelis killed since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.

"The cycle of violence will continue and will lead to more deterioration in the region unless an international intervention is there and unless international monitors are dispatched," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, an aide to Arafat.

But Sharon said in Monday "To reach peace negotiations with the Palestinians, they must first be hit hard ... so that they understand terrorism will achieve nothing. Only after they are beaten will we be able to hold talks, and I want a peace deal."