Witnesses tell how elderly were used as human shields for tank forces

The sound of four explosions came down the phone line. A woman could be heard screaming in the background: "Come and save us." This was in the middle of an interview with a Red Crescent ambulance official. He said the woman's house had been hit by rockets fired from an Israeli helicopter.

These were the voices that came out of Jenin refugee camp yesterday when it came under the heaviest attack since the Israeli army began its onslaught in the West Bank. The accounts are chilling: stories of Israeli forces using the elderly as human shields in front of their tanks, of women and children being rounded up, of homes being demolished, of bodies littering the streets.

These allegations cannot be confirmed, because of the censorship imposed by the Israeli authorities, who have refused journalists access to the camp. They are the claims made by those inside the refugee camp, speaking by mobile phone, and those who have recently fled.