'We're terrified - but what can I do against this?'

You see them as you come down the last mountain before the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a swarm of Apache helicopters hanging low over the city. Then you hear it: the dull intermittent roar of the Apaches' heavy machine guns firing directly into the houses of Jenin camp.
We looked over the warren of alleys that forms Jenin camp from the roof of the house of Naila Dhaher, situated a few hundred metres from the first buildings of the camp of 15,000. A white pall of smoke hung over houses built across a broad ridge that opens to the flat plain of the valley.

We count four helicopters. Residents say there have been as many as six firing at once. And as we speak they make low passes over the city firing their cannon every five or so minutes.

A little later we hear two dull thuds echoing across the valley as one of the Apaches fires its missiles. A column of thick black smoke rises above the rooftops of the camp. A few seconds later, orange flames burst high above the nearest roof.

President George Bush may have ordered the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian cities of the West Bank, but in Jenin, despite Israeli promises that it was "wrapping up the combat in the city", there was no sign yesterday that the assault was coming to an end as Israeli armour still poured into the city, and helicopters continued their ferocious assault.

Naila, a former tourist guide in Jerusalem, brings us sweet Arabic coffee as we stand watching the fighting from her roof. "My whole family is absolutely terrified," she tells us. "The bombing began on Wednesday morning." She suddenly jumps, startled by the missiles hitting a building near the elegant white tower of the camp's largest mosque.

"What can I do?' she asks. "What can any Palestinian do against this?"