A top general Tuesday told the panel investigating last month's Hebron massacre that "local faults" were to blame for the army's inability to stop the slaughter of Palestinian worshipers.

Maj. Gen. Danny Yatom was the first witness to testify before the five-member board of inquiry probing the Feb. 25 episode in the West Bank town of Hebron.Yatom said soldiers at the site of the Tomb of the Patriarchs did not follow an established security plan that might have prevented gunman Baruch Goldstein from entering the mosque and opening fire on Palestinian worshipers.

"I believe the massacre occurred because of local faults," he said. "If the plan would have been implemented as it was supposed to be, Goldstein would not have been able to enter the cave."

Yatom also said the army determined that Goldstein killed 29 Palestinians in the mosque, not 39 as previously reported.

Army troops also killed five Palestinians in riots outside the mosque.

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Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department Tuesday again advised U.S. citizens to avoid travel to East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza due to violence in the area.

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