Death and destruction spread across West Bank

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Defiant Israel snubs Bush peace plan

Sharon rides high in polls as Israeli public supports 'war on terror'

Powell faces daunting task on mission to end bloody cycle of Middle East violence

Both sides deny killing Bethlehem's bell ringer shot outside Nativity

Foreign journalists flee as soldiers use stun grenades to block access

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Leading article: The President's about-turn shows that a determined US can influence Israel

As the American special envoy, Anthony Zinni, finally met Yasser Arafat in his besieged headquarters in Ramallah yesterday, death and destruction echoed all around.

A day after George Bush called on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian-controlled cities in the West Bank, the onslaught had not abated. If anything, the Israelis were picking up the pace.

Israeli troops killed two leading Palestinian militants, including the mastermind of the Netanya bombing which killed 26 people. The militants were identified as Qeis Odwan, head of the military wing of Hamas, and Nasser Awais, leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade.

At least 12 other Palestinians were killed yesterday. Many were gunmen, but one was a 14-year-old girl killed in her home. An eight-year-old boy was critically ill in hospital with severe burns after a helicopter rocket landed near him.

A hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin came under fire during a battle between Israeli and Palestinian forces, and last night the Red Cross was trying to move critically ill patients to another hospital.

From occupied towns and cities across the West Bank the same story came: the wounded were lying in the streets and ambulances could not reach them because of Israeli restrictions on movement. The International Red Cross (ICRC), usually reluctant to criticise governments, the World Health Organisation and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees all said people had died because Israeli forces had stopped rescuers getting through.

Israeli forces advanced into Tubas, another Palestinian town in the West Bank, yesterday despite President Bush's call for the incursions to stop.

Dima Sinafta, a 14-year-old Palestinian girl, was watching from the balcony of her home as the tanks advanced into the town. Palestinian witnesses said she was killed after being hit in the chest by tank fire. Palestinian sources also claimed that a local fireman was killed after he was shot twice in the head and the chest.

In Hebron, an eight-year-old boy was badly burnt by rockets fired by Israeli helicopters, according to Palestinian sources. Ahmed Srayer was playing near Abu Ghanam street when two helicopters attacked a car on the street.

According to witnesses, their target was Ziyad Shuweiki, a member of Islamic Jihad, who was in the car but got out and ran to safety when he saw the helicopters. The local hospital said 11 bystanders were injured, four of them travelling in the same car. The eight-year-old boy was in a critical condition with second-degree burns, according to a Palestinian human rights organisation.

In Bethlehem, the stand-off at the accepted site of Jesus Christ's birthplace continued. About 200 Palestinian gunmen are inside the Church of the Nativity, where they had sought sanctuary from Israeli forces. Around 40 Franciscan monks and four nuns are with them. The monks are refusing to leave, and say they will remain to prevent a massacre. Father Giacomo Bini, head of the Franciscan order, said the monks are "basically voluntary hostages trapped between two fires ... They cannot leave for fear that there will be a bloodbath if they go."

The Israeli army said it helped four priests slip out of the church yesterday, unnoticed by Palestinian gunmen who have barricaded themselves in. They appeared to be the first clergy to leave the church since the gunmen burst in on Tuesday.

The sound of gunfire and explosions echoed over Bethlehem yesterday. In the streets near the church, claimed Palestinian sources, lay the bodies of two men critically ill after being shot. The two men were both from the Qaraeen family; ambulances could not get through to them because of Israeli blockades and it was feared they would die in the street.

The ICRC said yesterday that Israeli restrictions on the movement of medical workers had killed people. "Because of the near-total restriction of movement imposed de facto by the Israeli authorities on ICRC and PRCS [the Palestinian Red Crescent] vehicles, only a fraction of calls can be answered," the organisation said in a statement. "For the ICRC, there is little doubt that this has resulted in unnecessary deaths," the Swiss-run agency said.

The organisation also complained that two of its vehicles had been attacked and damaged by Israeli soldiers while parked in the West Bank town of Tulkarem yesterday. The ICRC said four Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances were also attacked.

In Jenin, the al-Razi hospital was hit by fire during a battle between Israelis and Palestinians, the Red Cross said. Several areas of the hospital were reported to have been destroyed, including the radiology ward, the water tanks and an area where oxygen cylinders were stored. The Red Cross was trying to get critically ill patients out and transfer them to another hospital last night.

Twenty-four hours after President Bush called on Israel to end its occupation, the West Bank was still under siege. According to a report in the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, sent a message to the White House before President Bush's statement on Thursday, asking for time to finish the job he has started in the West Bank, and has interpreted the fact that Mr Bush said he would not dispatch his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to the region until next week as allowing Israel that time.