Gunfire and explosions have been heard near Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, where Israeli troops are keeping Palestinian gunmen inside under siege.

 Media reports say the blasts came from stun grenades, and say there were signs of a fire near the Christian holy site. There has been no word on casualties. Earlier Thursday, a meeting to negotiate an end to the 16-day standoff was cancelled.
 
 

AP
Palestinian woman weeps atop the rubble of what used to be her house in Jenin refugee camp

 At the United Nations, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has repeated his call for Israel to accept deployment of a large armed international force in the West Bank to help end escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence. Speaking to a closed session of the U.N. Security Council, Mr. Annan appealed to the international community to quickly send the force to end what he called "the tragic and terrifying descent into bloodletting" that is gripping the West Bank.

 But Mr. Annan, who elaborated on last week's proposal international armed presence in the region, said an international force could only succeed if Israelis and Palestinians commit to a peace process. Israel has rejected previous calls for such a force.

 Earlier Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel will make every effort to withdraw its troops from most Palestinian areas - including Jenin and Nablus - by Sunday.

 But he indicated Israeli troops will maintain their siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, until suspected militants holed-up at those locations surrender. 

Some information for this report provided by AP.

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