Fighting spread yesterday through the alleys of densely populated West Bank refugee camps, where Palestinian militants reportedly were handing out explosives-packed belts to residents willing to strap them on and challenge Israeli soldiers.
Israeli forces continued to surround Balata refugee camp in Nablus, and, at a camp in Jenin, another northern West Bank city, residents said Israeli helicopter gunships targeting anything that moved were keeping people inside.
Outside the siege area, Palestinian militants also attacked a heavily fortified Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip early yesterday with guns and grenades, according to Israeli army officials.
A soldier was killed and four were injured, they said. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility and said two of its militants were killed.
The fighting flared after 25 Palestinians, including six Islamic militants, died on Friday. It was one of the bloodiest days of a more than one-week-old Israeli offensive launched after the deadliest wave of Palestinian suicide bombings ever.
The renewed assaults have undermined already faint hopes for a swift end to fighting raised by US President George W. Bush's demand for a withdrawal and Friday's meeting between US envoy Anthony Zinni and besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Israel began moving into West Bank cities eight days ago, after a suicide bombing killed 26 people in the city of Netanya at the start of the Passover holiday. Israeli forces have reoccupied six major West Bank cities and towns since beginning the campaign to chase down militants blamed for terror attacks inside Israel.
With international opposition to the Israeli incursions growing, the US has intensified its regional peacemaking efforts. Bush, who is dispatching Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region today, was preparing for a weekend meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the president's Texas ranch to search for a formula for peace.
Palestinian Cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the Palestinians will only meet with Powell if he meets with Arafat, who remains confined by Israeli forces to a few rooms of his Ramallah headquarters.
"Arafat is the only address," Abdel Rahman said yesterday, a day after Zinni became the first foreign official to meet with Arafat since Israeli forces moved on the compound March 29. Palestinians last month were angered by visiting US Vice President Dick Cheney's refusal to meet with Arafat.
Abdel Rahman said Palestinian Authority officials outside the besieged compound had lost all contact with Arafat since Friday night. He accused Israel of interfering with mobile telephone signals and cutting the electricity. The Israeli army confirmed power went out to the compound, but said Israeli forces didn't cut it.
In Bethlehem, where a standoff between Israeli forces and scores of Palestinian gunmen holed up in the Church of the Nativity was in its fifth day, soldiers searched private homes yesterday. Witnesses said at least 10 men were blindfolded, cuffed and led away in armored personnel carriers.
Further north in Jenin, a local Hamas leader said Palestinian militant factions had banded together and given explosives belts to residents of the camp under siege.
"Nobody works as Fatah or Hamas, everybody works together," said Jamal Abu al-Haija. "All the factions have distributed explosive belts and hand grenades to the people of the camp to defend themselves."
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