Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon has said the offensive against Palestinians will continue after thirteen Israeli soldiers, all of them reservists, were killed in a suspected Palestinian ambush at a refugee camp in Jenin.
Mr Sharon vowed to continue the bloody incursions into Palestinian areas despite repeated and angry demands from the US to withdraw. US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell is due in Israel on Friday.
The Israeli soldiers were killed when a number of booby-trap explosives blew up a building which crushed them, the spokesman said. Another soldier was seriously injured during the operation in the northern West Bank camp.
The deaths were the Israeli army's worst single loss in more than 18 months of fighting against the Palestinian initifada, or uprising.
Palestinians estimate 100 of their people have died in fierce fighting in the camp over the past week.
The Al-Jazeera satellite television station, monitored in Cairo, said Israel asked the Palestinians for a ceasefire to evacuate the dead and wounded from the attack.
The channel said Palestinian fighters told Israel that Mr Yasser Arafat is the only person who has the power to declare a ceasefire.
Under heavy US pressure, Israel withdrew from two Palestinian towns today, but soldiers took over other areas of the West Bank.
At least 124 Palestinians and 11 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the March 29th incursions by Israel, according to Palestinian medics and the Israeli army.