A Jewish couple and three of their children were stabbed to death in a West Bank settlement in what Israeli officials said was an attack by a Palestinian who broke into their home in the early hours of Saturday.
Israeli troops set up roadblocks and were searching the area around the settlement of Itamar, near the Palestinian city of Nablus, for the suspect.
A baby was among the five dead, officials said.
"This is the despicable murder of an entire, innocent family, parents and their young ones while they slept in their house," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"Israel will not ignore such a contemptible murder and will act aggressively to ensure the security of its civilians and to punish the murderers," he said in a statement. He called on the Palestinian Authority to assist in catching those responsible.
In a strongly worded statement, the office of U.S. President Barack Obama called on President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority to condemn the attack.
"There is no possible justification for the killing of parents and children in their home," the White House said in its statement. "We call on the Palestinian Authority to unequivocally condemn this terrorist attack."
Abbas, who demands the removal of settlements in order to establish a Palestinian state, later put out a statement condemning "all acts of violence against civilians, regardless of who carried them out and their motives."
PEACE TALKS FROZEN
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad had said earlier that his West Bank-based government rejects the use of violence.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack but the Hamas Islamists who rule the Gaza Strip said they offered their "full support" to any actions taken against settlers.
However, a senior figure in Hamas's exiled leadership in Syria, Izzat al-Rishq, said: "We had nothing to do with it."
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