JENIN, West Bank (REUTERS) — Palestinians ambushed an Israeli military patrol in a West Bank refugee camp, killing 13 soldiers and dealing the army a blow that could possibly undermine Secretary of State Colin Powell’s peace mission.
Defying U.S. demands that Israel end its fierce, 12-day-old offensive across the West Bank immediately, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to press ahead with a campaign in which the army said it has killed at least 200 Palestinians.
Tuesday’s attack in the Jenin camp — the deadliest strike against Israeli troops in 18 months of conflict — unfolded with split-second precision as a booby trap exploded: A suicide bomber blew himself up and gunmen opened fire from rooftops.
Israel told officials of the deaths just hours after withdrawing its troops from two Palestinian-ruled cities in response to U.S. pressure, but it gave no indication of when it would pull out of other cities, towns and villages it has occupied since March 29.
The Palestinian death toll from fierce battles in the narrow alleyways of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank is expected to be high.
Witnesses said many corpses lay unretrieved in the streets after days of fighting and Israeli bombardment. Palestinian officials have estimated more than 100 people killed.
In the West Bank’s largest city Nablus, six Palestinians — one policeman and five civilians — died in fighting Tuesday, Palestinian medics said. The army said a soldier was also killed.
President Bush responded to the withdrawal from Tulkarm and Qalqilya by demanding Israeli troops leave all other West Bank cities they have invaded since a suicide bomber killed 27 people at an Israeli hotel March 27.
“The president believes all parties still have responsibilities, [he is] still looking for results,” a White House spokesman said, adding Israel should withdraw from Palestinian areas and “do so now.”
Powell, still stopped in Egypt on his way to visit Israel later this week, said Sharon had told him by telephone he wanted to end the West Bank sweep for Palestinian militants as soon as possible.
But Israel launched a fresh incursion early Tuesday in Dura, near the city of Hebron, and Palestinian sources said about 70 people had been detained. Witnesses said troops had also entered a village near Jenin and shelled a police station.
In the Gaza Strip, which has been mostly quiet during the West Bank offensive, the army said Israeli troops made a brief incursion near the town of Deir El-Balah early Wednesday.
It said gunmen opened fire on soldiers, who shot back, and an armored bulldozer was sent several hundred meters into Palestinian-ruled territory to demolish an abandoned house from which the firing had originated. The gunmen escaped.
Brigadier-General Ron Kitrey said a group of soldiers was walking in a narrow alley in the Jenin camp when they were ambushed early Tuesday.
Major General Yitzhak Eitan, head of Israel’s central command, said: “We will continue to fight as long as necessary despite the loss. We will continue until we make this camp submit.”
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the army was attacking the camp with helicopters and knocking down buildings with bulldozers to “finish this camp by tonight.”
The deaths of so many soldiers on one day was a shock to Israelis already in a somber mood for Holocaust Remembrance Day, honoring the six million Jews killed by Nazi Germany.
