Explosions and gunfire erupted today around Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity where Israeli forces are besieging Palestinian gunmen, it has been reported.
The Israeli army blew the iron door off a back wall leading to the church gardens and two other blasts were heard shortly after, an AFP journalist has claimed. But Israeli sources deny the report.
A person in the church claimed, by telephone, the door on Milk Grotto Street behind the biblical landmark, supposedly marking the spot where Jesus Christ was born, had been destroyed.
Small-arms fire was heard on the second day of a stand-off between troops and an estimated 200 to 400 Palestinians in the church, including dozens of Palestinian gunmen, according to the Israelis.
Occupants of the church had denied Israeli claims that the armed Palestinians among them were beginning to surrender. "No one has left the church," lawyer Mr Tony Salman said.
But Mr Salman said the people in the church were beginning to run out of food and had been using the stocks from the next-door convent. He said those in the church included 15 women, elderly people and several dozen clerics.
AFP