Israel put the transfer of security control in parts of the West Bank on hold Tuesday as a new volley of mortar attacks by Palestinians in Gaza further undermined a fragile truce. Palestinians had been preparing to take control in the city of Ramallah, as well as Qalqilya, Jericho and Tulkarem on Tuesday but talks between Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and former Palestinian security minister Mohammed Dahlan on the issue Monday night broke up without agreement.

Dahlan told reporters no date for a transfer had been agreed and that he would meet with Mofaz again on Thursday "to conclude an agreement on all the points of understanding."

However, a spate of mortar shelling by the Hamas group on Monday, in response to the killing of a Palestinian schoolgirl, and further attacks on Tuesday have underlined the limitations of the Palestinian forces.

Israeli sources said Mofaz had told Dahlan there would be no transfers in the West Bank until there was a complete halt to the mortar attacks in Gaza.

While Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks on Monday, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Islamic Jihad said Tuesday that they had fired shells at a settlement in northern Gaza.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005