The Israeli army has admitted it killed hundreds of Palestinians in fighting earlier in the week in the Jenin refugee camp.
Palestinians have called on the United Nations to investigate the killings of Palestinians in the camp and accused Israel of carrying out massacres.
The Israeli army's chief spokesman told Army Radio "there were apparently hundreds of dead". He denied Israeli soldiers had carried out massacres in the camp during the army's West Bank offensive to root out militants.
But his estimate of hundreds of dead sharply revised upwards the army's previous figure of some 100 Palestinian fighters killed in Jenin.
Jenin, like other West Bank areas, has been declared a closed military area, and journalists have been barred from reporting events there.