Troops accused of trying to storm Nativity church

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Israeli forces were accused yesterday of attempting to storm the shrine believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Priests and Palestinian gunmen who have taken sanctuary inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem said Israeli soldiers blew off a door at the back of the church and fired shots into the building, wounding three people inside.

The Israeli army denied it had attacked the building. Reporters trying to reach the church to verify the claim were ordered back by Israeli soldiers waving guns in their faces.

About 200 Palestinian gunmen, most of them armed, have taken refuge in the church, claiming sanctuary, after Israeli forces occupied Bethlehem. Israeli soldiers have surrounded the building.

Trapped inside with the gunmen are about 40 Franciscan monks, four nuns, and Father Ibrahim Faltas, the custodian of the church.

The Israeli authorities have undertaken not to attack the church. But some of those trapped inside said troops had fired on the building, blowing off a metal door that leads to a small courtyard at the back of the church. The claim did not come from the gunmen alone: Father Ibrahim corroborated the accusation in an interview with Italian radio.

"We remained between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but no one from outside has entered the basilica proper," he said. "After they smashed down the door, the Palestinians who were in the church fled to the convent area."

Father Ibrahim issued a plea for help for those trapped inside. He said: "We are in danger, we ask for an immediate intervention of the international community. The world must help us."

Father Ibrahim said some of the Palestinian men were critically wounded and being tended to by the nuns but food and water supplies inside the church were running out. He said negotiations were under way. "Among the Palestinians there are at least a dozen injured, two of whom lie in critical conditions," he said. "The nuns are taking care of them but there is nothing left: bread, food, water."

None of those trapped inside the church is thought have been killed. But a Palestinian was shot dead as he tried to walk from his home to the church. Samir Ibrahim Salman, 45, who worked as a caretaker and bellringer in the church and prayed there every day, was hit as he tried to cross Manger Square, where the church is situated. "He was a simple guy. He never harmed any person," said a relative, Anton Salman.

The alleged attack on the church will cause anger in the Christian world. The Pope has already condemned Israel's actions in the West Bank.