- Israeli helicopters poured rocket fire on the Palestinian
refugee camp in Jenin after residents refused to evacuate their homes amid
bitter fighting, camp residents said.
-
- As fierce battles raged on in Jenin, a Palestinian fighter
was shot dead by Israeli forces besieging Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity,
where up to 200 Palestinian gunmen have sought sanctuary from Israel's
swoop on self-rule towns.
-
- In the narrow streets of Nablus' Old City, just south
of Jenin, five more Palestinians were killed in intense clashes on Monday,
including a 12-year-old boy and a 65-year-old man in the Asker refugee
camp, medics said.
-
- Palestinian security sources said Israel was gathering
its forces round the centre of the northern West Bank city in apparent
preparation for a final assault, as US pressure mounted on Israel to bring
its operations to an end.
-
- Local authorities say almost 50 Palestinians, both combatants
and civilians, have been slain since Israel invaded the city last Wednesday,
as part of its declared hunt for militant groups behind dozens of suicide
bombings in Israel.
-
- There was no sign the battles were over Monday as Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon bucked US President George W. Bush's calls for an
to end the operations "without delay," saying he would press
on until the job was done.
-
- Israel's chief of staff General Shaul Mofaz said Sunday
the West Bank offensive, codenamed Operation Defensive Wall, would need
at least four weeks to achieve its goal of dismantling extremist networks.
-
- The epicentre of the fighting Monday was in Jenin, long
branded a hotbed of militants by Israel, where a fifth day of battle showed
no sign of letting up.
-
- The Israeli army was calling on civilians by loudspeaker
to leave the shattered refugee camp -- a poverty-stricken neighborhood
for those who fled Israel after the 1948 war -- and move to the village
of Al-Yamun until the battle has ended, residents said.
-
- However, the residents told AFP by telephone that Israeli
Apache helicopters resumed their heavy barrage of the camp with missiles
when the people failed to respond to the call to muster in the central
square or face renewed air strikes.
-
- They said that dozens of dead could be lying in the rubble
of homes destroyed by shelling or bulldozers, as the army ploughed down
houses to clear roads for its forces to enter into the cramped alleyways
of the camp.
-
- The camp is home to around 11,000 people, and lies close
to the northern border boundary between Israel and the West Bank.
-
- In Bethlehem, where street battles had died down in past
days, fighting broke out around the Nativity Church, marking the spot where
Jesus was born. One Palestinian fighter was killed and two Israeli border
guards injured.
-
- The Palestinians said the dead man was killed while battling
a fire in a building next to the church.
-
- The Israelis blamed the Palestinians for the blaze and
said the victim was slain during an exchange of gunfire as they tried to
evacuate their own wounded.
-
- Flames and a plume of black smoke could be seen rising
from a building to the left of the besieged church facade after heavy gunfire
mixed with the pealing of the basilica's bells.
-
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