Priest Shot Dead in Bethlehem Church

Morgue Overflows with Bodies

BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Israeli troops seized control of this biblical city in their drive against Palestinian towns, reportedly shooting dead a Catholic priest and wounding at least six nuns in a church.

Elsewhere on the West Bank, Ramallah central hospital said it had started burying corpses in its parking lot after the town's morgue overflowed under the death toll of Israel's four-day-old invasion and ambulances were unable to reach the cemetery.

Palestinian medical sources said the priest and nuns were in the Santa Maria church when they were hit by fire as Israeli tanks and troops rolled though the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

But there was confusion about the incident, with the Vatican denying that the priest originally named was dead, and the Israelis banned any independent verification.

Also caught up in the turmoil of the operation launched two days after Easter was Bethlehem's main Omar mosque which caught fire late Tuesday for undetermined reasons, an AFP journalist said.

Around 150 people, 20 of them wounded, were stranded inside the Church of the Nativity in central Bethlehem after taking shelter from Israeli gunfire, Palestinian witnesses said.

A woman and her son were killed in Bethlehem by Israeli tanks, according to the son's wife.

Bethlehem was the fifth town taken as Israeli troops swept the West Bank hunting for Palestinian militants after laying siege to Palestinian chief Yasser Arafat's headquarters in the city of Ramallah on Friday.

Mussa Abu Hmed, head of West Bank hospital services, said Ramallah hospital morgue's capacity of 18 bodies had been overflowing since Sunday.

Adding to the soaring death toll, a Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli forces as she left the hospital after receiving treatment, medical sources said.

But despite growing international criticism of Israel's onslaught, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intensified the pressure on Arafat, saying that if he was allowed to leave it would be alone and on a "one way ticket."

The Palestinian leadership rejected the offer of escape from Ramallah, accusing Sharon of aiming to kill Arafat.

Israeli tanks and helicopters, backed by snipers, also pounded the CIA-equipped headquarters of Arafat's security chief, Colonel Jibril Rajoub, saying it was hiding around 250 people, including some of the militants on Israel's most-wanted list.

Five buses several hours later left the besieged security compound in the village of Beitunya near Ramallah with an unknown number of people on board and headed toward an Israeli army base, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said.

The Israelis launched a withering barrage of tank, helicopter and machinegun fire at the headquarters, engulfing the main building in flames, according to witnesses.

The bombardment followed heavy fighting between the Palestinian security forces inside the compound and the Israeli troops, who gave the Palestinians an ultimatum to leave.

At one point, 14 tank shells rained down in a few minutes while two helicopters above fired at least three rockets.

There was no word on the whereabouts of Rajoub, head of the West Bank preventive security services.

Israel seized Ramallah early Friday when Sharon sent in troops to pin down and "isolate" Arafat, whom he blames for 18 months of violence that have left more than 1,670 people dead.

The Israeli army says it has rounded up 500 Palestinians in recent days in a house-to-house sweep in the city.

The Jewish state's forces have also rolled into the towns of Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Beit Jala in their biggest military offensive on the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East war.

A Palestinian cameraman for the Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera, Majadi Banura, was grazed by a bullet in the head as he observed the Bethlehem deployment with other pressmen from the fifth floor of the Star Hotel.

Palestinian security sources said three Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel were executed early Tuesday at a Palestinian police post in Bethlehem. Seven suspected collaborators were executed the day before in Tulkarem.

As the Israelis moved into four villages surrounding Tulkarem, a Palestinian civilian was killed by tank fire, Palestinian security sources said.

In the Gaza Strip, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was killed Tuesday by Israeli army gunfire at Al-Tufah checkpoint near Khan Yunis, Palestinian security and medical sources said.

Amid fears of an escalation beyond the Palestinian territories, Israeli jets carried out air strikes on areas of south Lebanon near the disputed Shebaa Farms after Hezbollah rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli positions in the region.

The Shiite Hezbollah guerrilla movement's Al-Manar television reported that three Israeli soldiers were wounded, but there was no independent confirmation.