Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a rare interview to the Israeli media, has condemned the deadly attack on a Jewish settler family over the weekend as "despicable, immoral and inhuman", Al Arabiya reported.
Abbas told Israel Radio that the gory images of the victims - parents, two children and an infant - "cause anyone humane to ache and cry."
In Monday's interview, Abbas also said he would not allow attacks to multiply.
Israel has indirectly blamed the Palestinian government for the carnage, suggesting the killings were the product of incitement it allows.
Abbas says there is no incitement in mosques and called for a joint Israeli-Palestinian-U.S. team to examine claims of incitement in Palestinian textbooks.
Israel has not produced evidence that incitement contributed to the killings.
As the hunt for the killers continued, at least 20,000 mourners packed into the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem, the hillside graveyard echoing with sounds of grief and the angry diatribes of political and religious leaders.
Israeli police went on high alert and the army said troops had been ordered "to be vigilant" for any attempted revenge attacks.
As soldiers continued their search, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ministers had approved construction of "several hundred housing units within the settlement blocs" of Gush Etzion, Maale Adumim, Ariel and Kiryat Sefer.
The decision won a nod from the Yesha settlers' council but was furiously denounced by the Palestinians.
"This decision by the government is a small step in the right direction," a Yesha statement said, but added: "It is deeply troubling that it requires the murder of children in the arms of their parents to achieve such an objective."
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat condemned the move, telling AFP the Palestinian Authority "strongly condemns the decision of the Israeli government to speed up and increase the building of settlements."
Nabil Abu Rudeina, Abbas's spokesman, said in a statement: "The decision taken to build new settlements is a mistake and unacceptable. It will destroy everything and will lead to big problems."
The decision to build new settler homes was taken 24 hours after the bloodshed, which sparked a wave of international revulsion from the White House to Ramallah.
The Middle East peace Quartet also issued a statement condemning "in the strongest possible terms the violent murder of an Israeli family of five, including three young children, in the West Bank."
After the funeral, hundreds of settlers blocked dozens of road junctions in Israel and the West Bank in protest at the killings, police said.
Beyond the protests, fears of revenge attacks did not materialize immediately, with Palestinian witnesses and security sources reporting only a series of minor confrontations.
Several vehicles were damaged by stone throwing and one house suffered minor damage after being set on fire.
Troops quickly arrived and sent the settlers away from the villages.
