JENIN, West Bank'An explosion in a booby-trapped building deep inside the besieged Jenin refugee camp killed at least 13 Israeli soldiers Tuesday, while uncounted dozens of Palestinians were also reported dead in the fiercest fighting yet in Israel's 12-day-old West Bank offensive.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would press ahead with military raids and incursions across Palestinian territories despite Tuesday's devastating blow. It was the army's single greatest combat-related loss in five years.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is due in this region Thursday, a day earlier than originally scheduled, to attempt to defuse the crisis. He said Tuesday that the U.S. would be willing to contribute to an international monitoring force if a cease-fire can be achieved.
Powell also confirmed that he intends to meet with Yasser Arafat despite Israel's attempts to isolate and ostracize the Palestinian Authority president. Sharon labeled Powell's decision \a tragic mistake.'
Meanwhile, Israel'under mounting international criticism'continued attacking purported militant strongholds and hunting for suspects in three West Bank cities. Troops and tanks pulled back, however, from two other cities, Tulkarm and Kalkilya.
The battle for Jenin inside the tight, cramped refugee camp was shaping up as the toughest in the Israeli offensive. Jenin is also the site of a looming humanitarian disaster, according to residents and Palestinian relief workers.
Hundreds of Palestinians were reported dead or wounded, but an exact count had not been made because ambulances had not been able to retrieve all of the bodies.
It was impossible to independently verify any claims because Israeli authorities have banned journalists from entering Jenin'a decision that in turn fueled rumors of widespread calamity. On Tuesday, reporters were able to reach the entrance of the town of Jenin, about two miles from the refugee camp, but were turned away by soldiers.
""We will continue to fight as long as necessary despite the loss,' Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Eitan, chief of the Israeli army central command, said in a briefing for reporters in Jerusalem on Tuesday night. ""We will continue until we make this camp submit.'
Eitan said the soldiers stumbled on an ambush as they conducted house-to-house searches.
The soldiers, all reservists, entered a building in the refugee camp in search of an explosives lab, Israeli officials said. Palestinian fighters apparently then detonated the explosives, bringing the entire building crashing down on top of the men.
A second unit of men arrived to attempt to rescue the first group but came under heavy gunfire, the Israeli army said. The 13 dead included three whose bodies had to be dug out from the rubble. At least seven soldiers were hurt, one critically. A suicide bomber might have joined in the attack.
