The Palestinian security apparatus compound -- on the other side of Ramallah from Arafat's office -- was hammered with tank shells, rockets from helicopter gunships, machine gun fire and small arms fire. As he watched the scene unfold from about a mile from the five-acre site, CNN's Michael Holmes described it as a "ferocious attack" that caused extensive destruction. 

The head of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Younis Al Khatib, and several other staffers were detained for several hours in Ramallah on Tuesday and then released, Palestinian sources said. 

A curfew imposed in the area around the compound was temporarily lifted for a few hours Tuesday afternoon so civilians could get essential supplies such as food and water. Israel called the lifting of the curfew a humanitarian gesture and said it is handing out milk and other staples. 

Sharon said he had received calls from world leaders voicing concern about Arafat's plight. He said he had told them they could send a helicopter to take Arafat from Ramallah, but that Arafat would not be allowed to return. ( Map of Arafat's compound.) 

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat denounced the idea, saying Arafat would not accept exile. 

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he didn't think Sharon's comments would have an effect one way or the other. 

"Chairman Arafat is the head of the Palestinian Authority, and he is recognized ... as the leader of the Palestinian people," Powell told CNN. "And he'll be the leader of the Palestinian people whether he is sitting in Ramallah, or whether he is sitting in some exile location ... so it seems to me, let's deal with him where he is." STORY

'We will resist'
By midday Tuesday, there was evidence of heavy damage to the security complex -- gaping holes in outer walls, smoke billowing from fire-blacked buildings and sections of the perimeter fence knocked out. 
 

Israel troops and tanks patrolled outside the security headquarters.  Palestinian officials said the security complex had been occupied by hundreds of people, including civilians -- administrators, secretaries and some children. A day-care center is a part of the headquarters facility.  Jibril Rajoub, the Palestinian head of security in the West Bank, was at the security headquarters as the attack began but later slipped out of the complex with two of his top lieutenants.

The Israel Defense Forces has said it has arrested more than 700 Palestinian suspects in Ramallah, including a "relatively large number" wanted by the Israeli government. 

Hospital officials in Ramallah said people killed after the Israeli invasion began in the city are being buried near the hospital grounds because there is no more room in the morgue. At least 25 bodies had been brought to the morgue after hospital officials said Monday they had reached capacity. 

CNN's Bill Hemmer reported three more people were killed Tuesday, including a 56-year-old woman on her way home from the hospital. 

Elsewhere, the IDF continued to expand its operations with activity in the West Bank towns of Tulkarem, Qaqilyah, Bethlehem and Beit Jala. 

Israeli defense minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, in an interview Monday with CNN, said his forces would likely "enter every territory" to dismantle the "terror infrastructure," while not ruling out a wider regional war. 

Fighting in Bethlehem
In Bethlehem, helicopter gunships fired on at least three buildings, Palestinian sources said. The sources had said two people were killed, including a Catholic priest, and six people were wounded. But the Vatican's representative in the region said the priest was alive and well. 

The IDF would only confirm that an operation was under way in Bethlehem. 

In addition, Israeli tanks rolled into town and were seen within several hundred meters (yards) of Manger Square, the location where it's believed Jesus was born. 

Up to 50 Israeli troops were occupying the campus of Bethlehem University, a Vatican-owned institution, said school President Vincent Malham. 

"Bethlehem has become a war site for the moment," said Malham said. "We are, of course, terrorized and terrified because there's so much shooting going on all around us." 

The Israeli government Monday closed the West Bank and warned foreign journalists to leave. 

In Ramallah, two news cameramen said Tuesday they were among a group of three ordered stripped to their boxer shorts by Israeli soldiers during a search. The three were from Reuters, Middle East Broadcasting, and ANN. They were filming soldiers stopping ambulances, two of the cameramen said, and soldiers ordered them to remove their gear and clothes and searched the items. 

Two of them -- one from Reuters and the other from Middle East Broadcasting -- were given back their clothes, gear and IDs and allowed to leave. The third was still being detained by the military. 

The whirlwind of developments came after another terror attack. A car bomb went off at a checkpoint in West Jerusalem on Monday, killing the bomber and seriously wounding an Israeli policeman, who later died. The bombing raised the count to seven terror attacks -- six suicide bombings and one shooting -- in six days. At least 43 Israelis have been killed and more than 100 wounded in the terror attacks since the Passover bombing Wednesday night.(Full story) 

Other developments

The European Union on Tuesday told Israel that it must immediately end its incursions into Palestinian terroritories, withdraw its troops and end the confinement of Arafat. "One thing is to fight terrorism, and another is to dismantle the Palestinian Authority's power structure," said Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique. (Full story) 
 

The U.S. State Department has approved an "authorized departure" of U.S. government employees and their family members assigned to Jerusalem, in response to the last few days of violence, a State Department official said Tuesday. Separately, an updated travel warning from the State Department urges American citizens residing in the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem to "consider relocating to a safe location." The advisory cites cites "numerous civilian deaths and injuries, including to some American tourists." 
 

Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said Tuesday that the Bush administration's position on the Middle East is "incoherent" and warned there is a "drift toward an abyss." In an interview on CNN's "American Morning," Brzezinski said neither Sharon nor Arafat is capable of articulating "what a settlement looks like." The Bush administration needs to articulate "what its concept of a real settlement is," Brzezinski said. 
 

The Bush administration Monday called on Israel to withdraw its forces from around Arafat's Ramallah compound and said Arafat must forcefully denounce terrorism. The White House declared that Bush's doctrine on global terror -- that any nation or group that harbors a terrorist will be regarded as a terrorist and potentially subject to U.S. reprisals -- does not apply to the Palestinian Authority.