Two mortars were fired at Gilo early this afternoon, one causing damage to a residential building but no injuries. Rifle fire on the Jerusalem suburb has continued sporadically since the morning.

Six Palestinians were reportedly wounded this afternoon by IDF gunfire. The Palestinians opened fire on IDF troops near the El Aida refugee camp next to Beit Jala and were injured when soldiers returned fire.

Palestinians have fired sporadically at the southern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Gilo and Malha and at Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem since the IDF moved forces into Beit Jala early Tuesday morning. 16 buildings in Gilo were reportedly damaged by gunfire last night and bullets struck an Israeli Channel One television van. No injuries were reported.

Earlier yesterday evening, three mortars landed in the Gilo neighborhood, with one shell landing in a courtyard of a community center filled with civilians, causing minor damage but no injuries. Another shell reportedly landed on the roof of a kindergarten.

Palestinians reported one person dead and ten injured in clashes with IDF troops yesterday in the Beit Jala and Bethlehem areas. A Palestinian teenager was also reportedly killed during exchanges of fire in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, a scene of extensive confrontations in recent days.

Defense analyst Ron Ben-Yishai told Channel One television that the Palestinians, despite being pushed back from the front lines of Beit Jala by the IDF incursion, were managing to reach Gilo by firing with longer-range weapons.

Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer announced, following a meeting with Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz that the IDF would remain in Beit Jala until the shooting on Gilo stopped.

United States calls for Israeli withdrawal
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher yesterday called on Israel to leave Beit Jala, and for Palestinians not to shoot at them. "The Palestinians need to stop the shootings and the attacks against Israelis in Gilo and elsewhere," Boucher said. "The Palestinian Authority must exercise its authority if it is serious about ending the current crisis and moving toward the implementation of Mitchell Committee recommendations."

"At the same time," Boucher said, "the Israelis need to understand that incursions like this will not solve the security problem but will only make matters worse."

Israel denied a Palestinian claim, cited by the State Department, that they had posted troops near a Lutheran orphanage. Ha'aretz reported that the IDF stationed troops on roof of a five-story hostel located adjacent to Beit Jala's Lutheran church.

Israel Radio quoted Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo as saying the move into Beit Jala might provoke "a regional war."

Dore Gold, a close aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, described Beit Jala as a "snipers' nest" from which gunmen had been firing on Israel's capital for the past ten months.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres telephoned a long list of world leaders, as well as Yasser Arafat, in an unsuccessful attempt to arrange a ceasefire.

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