Israeli tanks streamed into two other West Bank towns before dawn Wednesday, exchanging fire with Palestinian fighters, witnesses said. The incursions followed a day of wild fighting as Palestinian gunmen forced their way into Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.
The Israeli incursions into Salfeet and Jenin came a day after Israel seized control of Bethlehem and another West Bank town and clashed with defenders in actions that left 13 Palestinians dead.
At least 30 tanks moved into Jenin from all sides. They exchanged heavy machine gun fire with Palestinians in the city and at the entrance of a refugee camp, witnesses said. A 27-year-old Palestinian woman was shot to death, Palestinian hospital officials said.
Tanks were taking up positions in Salfeet. More than 20 Israeli tanks moved into this town of Salfeet, located some 20 kilometers southwest of Nablus, Palestinian security sources told AFP. The sources said Israeli troops completely reoccupied the town early Wednesday.
Dozens of armed Palestinians were holed up inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which is built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born. About 20 of the gunmen were wounded and being tended to by nuns, according to witnesses trapped in the church compound.
The armed men, some of them Palestinian policemen, forced their way into the church after running battles with Israeli troops firing from helicopters and from tank-mounted machine guns. At nightfall, the bodies of four gunmen lay sprawled just off Manger Square, where the church is located.
About 120 armed men were hiding in the church, said Marc Innaro, a correspondent for Italy's RAI TV, who was trapped in the compound by the fighting along with five colleagues.
In a move that underscored hardships caused by the Israeli raids, Palestinians buried 15 of their dead in a hospital parking lot in Ramallah, reported AP. Families of the dead had been unable to claim the bodies, which were decomposing in a hospital morgue because power cuts made refrigeration impossible.
By nightfall, most of the about 400 Palestinians trapped in Rajoub's compound near Ramallah had surrendered to Israeli troops, in a deal brokered by U.S. and European officials. About eight men remained inside. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
