TEL AVIV Ñ Israeli reservists entering a Palestinian refugee camp were ambushed and at least 13 soldiers killed
in heavy fighting.
Israeli military sources said the soldiers, most of them reservists,
were killed on Tuesday in the center of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
An Israeli military spokesman said the Israelis were killed by several
bombs that exploded in the Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday, Middle East Newsline reported. The spokesman said
reserve soldiers entered a building in the center of the camp that was
booby-trapped by mines.
The building collapsed on the soldiers, killing several of them.
Additional soldiers were killed or injured when another reserve force tried
to rescue their comrades.
Military sources said that in all 13 soldiers were killed and five
injured. The evacuation of the Israeli casualties took hours and came after
a ceasefire arranged by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Ron Ben-Yishai, military analyst for the state-run radio and television,
said the Jenin refugee camp has been captured by Israeli forces. "The
operation is over," Ben-Yishai said.
Israeli forces were battling at least 100 Palestinian
insurgents who military sources said appeared to be fighting to "the last
bullet." They said the compound in the Jenin refugee camp, regarded as the
leading base of Palestinian suicide bombers, was being pounded by AH-64A
Apache helicopters.
Palestinian sources said the insurgents sustained heavy casualties in
the battle, but did not specify. They said Israel has halted fire and asked
the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate the dead and
wounded in the compound. The sources said the Palestinians refused to
leave the compound.
In Nablus, heavy fighting continued on Tuesday between Israeli forces
and Palestinian insurgents. Palestinian sources said 40 insurgents were
killed in the house-to-house Israeli operation.
