Har Gilo, West Bank ? Israeli officials on Monday halted plans to return control of more West Bank cities to the Palestinians after Palestinian security forces failed to prevent a shooting attack late Sunday that injured four Israelis outside a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

But the Israeli government planned to release about 400 Palestinian prisoners as early as Wednesday. Government spokesman Avi Pazner said that “goodwill” gesture was needed to sustain the fragile peace negotiations.

The shooting victims, an Israeli woman and her three children, were from Har Gilo, a 90-family settlement near Bethlehem. It was the first attack in the vicinity of Bethlehem since Israel returned that city to Palestinian control last month.

Har Gilo official Igal Dimant said the release of prisoners would show Israel’s support for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister.

“As much as the attack hurts, there is no use letting the extremists” derail negotiations, said Dimant, 55. “If the release can help (Abbas) from a security point of view, we will benefit.”

The attack took place hours after Israel rejected a Palestinian proposal for a permanent cease-fire because the proposal also would have allowed Abbas to avoid disarming militant groups.

Most Palestinian militant groups called a temporary cease-fire June 29. Since then, violence has dropped significantly, although Israeli authorities accuse Palestinian terrorists of using the time to rearm for more attacks.

Abbas quickly condemned the Har Gilo attack. But Elias Zananiri, spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Security Affairs and Interior, said Israel put such tight restrictions on Palestinian authorities that there was little they could do to find the attackers.

“It is obviously our duty to prevent any violation of the truce, but we can’t move our officers from one place to another, from one city to another,” Zananiri said. “We don’t even have facilities to lock up those we charge.”