Israel launches deadly refugee camp offensive

Israel has invaded another area of the West Bank and has launched an offensive in a refugee camp.

The move is emerging as the deadliest battle of the 12-day military offensive.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said dozens of bodies were piled in the streets of the Jenin refugee camp.

In a complaint to Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the Israeli organisation said the army has committed serious human rights violations in the camp. It says these include the demolition of homes with residents still inside.

"Those who left their houses to try to get supplies were shot at by the army," the organisation said.

Camp resident and Hamas activist Jamal Abdel Salam said he was told by fighters that they were being surrounded by Israeli soldiers in the eastern part of the camp.

He said: "They said they prefer death to surrender. They asked me to look after their families."

Meanwhile, Israel's siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, where more than 200 armed Palestinians are holed up, has entered its second week today, with no sign of a resolution.

In Nablus, the West Bank's largest city, troops took control of the densely populated downtown area, or casbah, after several days of fierce resistance by Palestinian gunmen.

At least 41 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, but the toll is not final because some bodies are still lying in the streets, medics said. The military said it has found 16 bomb-making labs in Nablus.