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West
Bank raids continue JENIN, West Bank — Palestinian militants ambushed Israeli soldiers during intense fighting in a refugee camp Tuesday, opening fire from rooftops and setting off explosions that collapsed a building on troops in a narrow alley, the Israeli military said. Thirteen Israeli soldiers were killed and nine wounded. The attack in Jenin refugee camp, where the military has besieged dozens of Palestinian gunmen for the past week, was the single deadliest incident involving Israeli forces in the past 18 months of violence. Hours after the ambush, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a nationally broadcast address that the incursion into the West Bank would continue until Palestinian militias are crushed — despite U.S. pressure that he halt the 12-day-old offensive. Earlier Tuesday, Israel pulled out of the West Bank towns of Qalqiliya and Tulkarem, raising expectations that it would end the offensive altogether and also leave Nablus, Bethlehem, Jenin and Ramallah. Secretary of State Colin Powell, due to arrive in Israel late Thursday in an effort to work out a truce, praised the withdrawal and said he would meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during his visit. The Israeli military confirmed 13 soldiers were killed and nine wounded in the Jenin camp — bringing to 25 the number of soldiers killed since Israel launched its offensive after a string of suicide attacks. Palestinian medics have confirmed at least 124 Palestinians killed in the campaign, but the toll was expected to rise amid reports of dead Palestinians still not evacuated from areas of battle. An Israeli army officer died in Nablus on Tuesday, the military said, adding that he might have been killed by errant Israeli gunfire. The Jenin camp has seen the heaviest fighting of the offensive. By Tuesday, several hundred gunmen had been pushed back to a small area of the cramped, crowded camp, with Israeli helicopter gunships providing heavy cover fire for ground troops, witnesses said.y |
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