Israel Promises a Pullback as Death Toll Keeps Rising
Standing in the hospital lobby, Muther al-Shariff, the deputy minister of health for the Palestinian Authority, said 5 people had been killed and 17 wounded.

Hours earlier, Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, had ordered a gradual withdrawal of troops from Ramallah.

The prime minister's office said the withdrawal would be phased over time, and even when it was complete, troops and tanks would still ring the city, which is the commercial and political center of the West Bank and home to about 200,000 people.

Defense Minister Benjamin Ben- Eliezer issued a statement in which he said the Ramallah operation was "successful" and had "achieved its ends."

Elsewhere, Israelis and Palestinians inflicted casualties on each other today in the steady violence and death that have become the norm. In Gaza early this morning, a powerful bomb ripped through the floor of an Israeli tank as it was escorting a convoy of settlers. Three soldiers were killed and two more wounded.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/15/international/middleeast/15ISRA.html