BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank - The Israeli military attacked two West Bank refugee camps with helicopter gunships, tanks and paratroopers yesterday in a high-stakes attempt to break strongholds of Palestinian militants. An Israeli soldier and 11 Palestinians were killed - pushing the Palestinian toll past 1,000 in 17 months of fighting.

Associated Press Palestinian mourners wave the PFLP and the Islamic Jihad flags during the funeral procession of Emad Mughrabi, 25, in the West Bank town of Nablus Wednesday. Mughrabi, a member of the local Al Aqsa Brigades, was killed early Wednesday by Israeli fire as he tried to plant a bomb near one of the Israeli tanks on the outskirts of the West Bank refugee camp of Balata, near Nablus.

It was the first time Israeli troops have stormed refugee camps in the current Mideast conflict.

The fierce, sustained gunbattles began before dawn and carried on past sundown in the camps, on the edge of Nablus and the fringes of Jenin, Palestinian towns less than 20 miles apart. A twelfth Palestinian was shot dead in a village outside Bethlehem in a separate clash, Palestinian doctors said.

By Thursday night, large numbers of Israeli troops had taken over several buildings and houses, and were going house-to-house in the Balata camp, though there was no sign Palestinian militiamen were prepared to surrender. Altogether, almost 100 Palestinians were injured, hospitals and Palestinian officials said.