Israel said on Sunday it would not ease restrictions on movement and access for Palestinians in the West Bank unless the Palestinian leadership moved more forcefully against armed groups threatening violence against Israelis.

The announcement by Ehud Olmert, prime minister, followed the killing of two Israeli citizens near the West Bank town of Hebron on Friday. The victims – off-duty soldiers in their early twenties – were shot by Palestinian militants while hiking in the hills of their home town Kiryat Arba, a Jewish settlement on occupied Palestinian land near Hebron.