Ariel Sharon was under increasing international pressure tonight to call off his West Bank siege of Yasser Arafat even as the Israeli army stepped up its campaign.

Scores of Palestinian gunmen were today under siege inside Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity hiding from Israeli troops, helicopters and tanks that invaded the city in an offensive aimed at crushing Palestinian militias in the West Bank.

Israeli tanks were today reported to have entered Gaza airport, after warplanes destroyed two of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s helicopters in Gaza and blasted West Bank security installations.

Palestinians today dismissed Israel’s announcement of a unilateral truce as a public relations ploy, and said calm cannot be restored until Israel halts construction in Jewish settlements and lifts its sweeping travel restrictions.