BETHLEHEM, April 30: Twenty-six people filed out of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Tuesday, the largest group to leave in a four-week-long Israeli siege of Palestinian fighters taking refuge in the shrine.

Witnesses saw the people walk out of the church, one of Christianity’s holiest sites, in single file and present their identity papers to Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli army initially said 27 people were in the group, but witnesses and the military later put the number at 26, including a senior Palestinian security official.

Half of the group were members of the Palestinian security forces and the rest civilians, including youths, an army spokesman said.

Twenty-four of those who left the church boarded an Israeli armoured bus. The senior Palestinian security official was taken away separately by the army. Another man was evacuated for medical treatment.

Israeli troops have besieged the church since April 2.

Dozens of Palestinian police, Christian clerics and other civilians are trapped in the shrine, where food and water are said to be in short supply.

Emerging from the church, most of the youths in the group refused to take cake, apples and water offered by soldiers, witnesses said.

Israel has demanded the wanted guerillas surrender for trial in Israel or exile. Palestinians want them to be given safe passage to the Gaza Strip.

3,000 homeless: The Israeli army’s operation in the Jenin refugee camp left about 3,000 Palestinians homeless, mostly children, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

Following a visit to the West Bank camp by an Amnesty team, led by secretary general Irene Khan, the group found “strong evidence” that grave breaches of international humanitarian law and violations of human rights were committed by Israeli troops during a nine-day battle in early April.—Reuters/AFP