A Catholic Franciscan official in Rome said that food inside the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem is running out but that the monks and nuns will remain inside the church to prevent a blood bath if the Israeli military raids the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ.

More than 200 Palestinians fled into the church four days ago for a safe harbor when the Israeli military reoccupied Bethlehem and their tanks swarmed into its center at Manger Square where the church is located.

There are 45 Franciscan monks and nuns and 30 Orthodox and Armenian monks withheld inside the church where 35 doors broken, 55 windows shattered and a crack in 19th-century stained glass were the result of Israeli attacks.

On Friday, four dozen Israeli soldiers had stormed buildings of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, locking the Rev. Mitri Raheb in his office for two hours and threatening him at gunpoint as they searched offices, a guesthouse and a conference center, the clergyman said.

Raheb said that as soldiers entered the church compound, an Israeli commander apologized. "He said, 'Sorry. We know there was no firing that took place from your church,'" Raheb said.
An Italian Journalist for Rai TV who was upheld in the church, but later released after Italian Consul’s intervention, said there are 200 Palestinians inside the church. “Half of the Palestinians are civilians, ten are children between the ages of 7 and 10,” he said.
Many of Bethlehem residents fled into the Church fearing, after seeing what Israeli tanks did to residential areas in Ramallah, for being shelled inside their homes. The other half include senior Palestinian Authority officials from Bethlehem such as Bethlehem Governor, Preventive Security director of Bethlehem and Palestinian Intelligence director in Bethlehem. There are also 10 wounded Palestinian activists. The rest are either armed activists, or Palestinian civil police and tourist police who where in the area guarding the municipality and the churches. These civil and tourist police are armed with simple weapons but were not fighting. Fearing for their life, once the tanks approached Manger Square they fled into the church.
The situation at the complex, which includes the Church of the Nativity, was "very grave," the minister-general of the Franciscans, the Rev. Giacomo Bini, told reporters. "The brothers have shared their food but it is now running out, and we appeal to be allowed to leave the church to go and get supplies."
Bini said the Franciscans' top representative in the Holy Land, the Rev. Giovanni Battistelli, is willing, together with other local religious leaders, to "mediate talks between the two groups -- the Israeli soldiers besieging the exterior of the basilica of the Nativity and the over 200 Palestinians who have taken shelter in the monastery."
He also said that he had written to U.S. President George Bush "to ask him to ask Sharon to stop and to start a dialogue."
The head of the Franciscan monks inside the church appealed not to “give up on us, help us, help so not to save the monks only but to salvage peace first. Help us to save the innocent women and children inside.” “We, the monks, are ready to be mediators. Preventing a blood bath is due to the presence of the monks and the church,” he added.
Bini said that he is in continuous contact with the monks inside the church, which Pope John Pall II visited two years ago.
“The Israeli forces destroyed the door of the Church of Nativity and the monks said some bullets were shot at the church but the (Israeli) soldiers did not enter,” Bini said.
Israel said it will not attack the church and says wanted armed Palestinians are inside taking the monks hostages.
The Vatican’s missionary news service, FIDES, said an envoy of the Holy See in Israel negotiated the departure of the four priests.
FIDES also released a statement by the Custodians of the Holy Sites that expressed concern that the Israelis were mistakenly considering the monks inside the church to be hostages. The statement said there were fears that the Israelis might view the monks to be hostages in an attempt to legitimize an attack on the church, "which is not acceptable on any pretext."
The statement said, "The monks are not hostages. They are in their home and in their place, out of faith and vocation, and out of obedience to the orders of their superiors."
Israeli forces prevented reporters from getting close to the fourth-century stone church.
Catholic Bishop of Bethlehem Amjad Sabarah who is inside the church said that “there is no one inside the church who is a hostage by any Palestinian side. This is our home and we will not leave it, we do not want to leave and go anywhere else, this is our convent and it is impossible to leave our convent which is our home.”
The Jerusalem Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, which is the other custodian of the Church of Nativity, said in a statement that “it is the duty of the church to adopt anyone coming to it asking for refuge. Therefore how would it react when those asking refuge are part of our Palestinian people who are part of the church community in the Holy Land.”
After four days of siege, the medical and living situation inside the church is deteriorating.

“The main problems are embodied in food and health conditions. We used to eat eggs and pastry but not in adequate amounts,” said the Italian journalist.

Antoine Salman, head of a Bethlehem Christian Palestinian community, who is also besieged inside the church said that all of those inside the church expressed their free will in being inside it. He said that the monks are providing food and medical care to those inside the church.

“We have a number of cases that need immediate medication, and one critical case. There are others who are senior citizens and those who need diabetes and blood pressure medicine,” he said.

He said those armed Palestinians, who fled into the church, had “put their weapons aside upon entering the church realizing and respecting this sacred site. No one from inside used a weapon or shot a bullet.”

Approximately 243 people are still surrounded in the Church of the Nativity, 45 of them priests and nuns, the rest Palestinian citizens. Israeli soldiers have already blown up the door and people inside fear that soon they will invade. Ambulances are still prevented from reaching the injured. At 6:30 this morning Samir Ibrahiem Salma made his way to church as he has done every morning for years. People told us that he was “simple”, but a kind and harmless man; Israeli troops shot him dead. Another fatality was the 56-year-old bell ringer shot while ringing the church bells.

In Beit Sahour, a town adjoining Bethlehem, the municipality has been occupied and damaged by Israeli troops.