Israeli soldiers searching for tunnels and explosives withdrew from the outskirts of Gaza City today, the army said, ending a five-day operation that Palestinians said left 20 people dead, and heavily damaged houses, streets and farmlands.

The Israeli army uncovered an explosives laboratory in the West Bank city of Nablus, as it entered its third day of an operation in the city.

DOZENS of Israeli soldiers sealed off the Old City of Nablus with barbed wire and cement blocks yesterday, while troops conducted house-to-house searches in one of the biggest operations in the area in months.

ISRAELI troops traded gunfire with Palestinians yesterday and arrested 50 suspected terrorists after the army swept into the West Bank City of Nablus backed by 150 armoured vehicles in a retaliatory strike for several Palestinian attacks on Israel.

Israeli forces were still surrounding Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and Yasser Arafat’s office in Ramallah today despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon saying the West Bank military assault was virtually over.