OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 15 June — Israel redeployed its forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday as a top Palestinian spokesman said the first 24 hours of a US-brokered cease-fire had been a total failure.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo spoke against a backdrop of violence, including three deaths, since the truce took effect at noon GMT on Wednesday.

Earlier yesterday, a Palestinian and an Israeli Army officer were killed in a West Bank shootout near Jerusalem. The Israeli officer, a lieutenant colonel in military intelligence, was killed by Hassan Abu Shairah in a revenge operation,  the Fatah unit of Bethlehem said. The Palestinian Authority said the killing took place during a pre-arranged meeting between the two.

Late on Wednesday, a Palestinian was killed in a drive-by shooting on a West Bank road. Israeli police said they were looking into the possibility that Jews were responsible.

Despite the Israeli Army pulling back tanks in key areas and the easing of some curbs on movement, the official Palestinian verdict on the first 24 hours of the cease-fire was a harsh one. “We consider the first day after the agreement was signed a complete failure for the plan,” Abed Rabbo said. “The United States should intervene to force Israel to deal seriously and stop all Israeli violation and stealing of land,” he said. The truce was brokered by US CIA chief George Tenet.

Meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden, US President George Bush and European Union leaders voiced grave concern and urged both sides to end the bloodshed.

In Gaza saw Israeli tanks pulled back near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim and Palestinian traffic flowing in the flashpoint area.  In the West Bank, the army said it had withdrawn two tanks from positions around Ramallah, one at the Ayosh junction and the other at the Surda checkpoint.

Palestinian witnesses near Nablus said Israel had pulled back three tanks stationed east of the city and brought them to a nearby base. The area was now open for traffic, they said.

The army said it had reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which was closed after a suicide bomber killed 20 people at a Tel Aviv beach disco on June 1. It added that Israel had also eased restrictions on Palestinian use of coastal waters off Gaza. The Palestinian minister sounded unimpressed.

Abed Rabbo accused Israeli settlers of occupying a number of hilltops around Al-Khader, near Bethlehem, and the army of stepping up its “siege” of cities and villages and erecting two buffer zones in the Gaza Strip.

“This is the tragedy. But the joke is that Sharon is the judge who decides to what extent we are complying with the cease-fire,” he added.

A senior Hamas official said the group would not carry out suicide attacks against Israeli civilians provided Israeli soldiers stopped killing Palestinian civilians.

The remarks by Abdel-Aziz Al-Rantissi, a top Hamas official, appeared to soften a stance adopted by senior Hamas leaders who said last week that the group would continue striking at Israelis “everywhere”.

“If they stop killing civilians, we will not carry out martyrdom operations against civilians,” Rantissi said. But he said hamas considered all Palestinians civilians.