"That's what we have counted," Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Wednesday in an interview with CNN. 

"We never massacred people," he said, defending the conduct of his country's armed forces in Jenin, which he called the "capital of the terror." 

Palestinian Authority officials have said that Israeli troops killed more than 500 Palestinians at the West Bank camp and buried many of them in mass graves. 

He said most of the Palestinian dead were in uniform and two suspected suicide bombers were found. He said he doesn't believe other bodies are buried beneath rubble in the camp. 

Ben-Eliezer, who also leads Israel's Labor Party, said there is "no military solution" to the conflict. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is a member of Labor's arch-rival, Likud, which is more hard-line. Both parties are part of the Israeli unity government. 

"The only place to solve the problem is around the table," Ben-Eliezer said. 

He said that Israel would do what it could to guarantee security down the road, leaving open the possibility of Israeli forces going back into Palestinian territories. 

"How many suicide bombers are going to enter Israel? How many massacres still [do] we have to suffer and continue to restrain? There is a limitation here. There is no left and right here in the country," he said. 

Israel began its military operation in the West Bank on March 29 following a series of Palestinian suicide bombings. 

Before ending his 10-day peace mission to the Mideast, Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday repeated the U.S. position that Israel should pull back its forces. 

"I stressed to [Sharon] the urgency of completing withdrawal and have been assured of real results in the next few days," Powell said.