Palestinian leadership has asked all the members of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction living abroad to return to Ramallah due to Arafat's illness, Palestinian Communications Minister Azzam Al Ahmed was quoted as saying by the Ha'aretz daily on Thursday.

The report came after speculations that Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Yasser Arafat's health worsened critically.

Arafat's health began to deteriorate late Wednesday night and agroup of doctors were fighting for his life in the Ramallah compound, said Palestinian officials.

Some Palestinian officials, however, denied that Arafat was in serious condition, saying the veteran leader was in stable condition and needed only several days of rest to recover.

Speaking to al-Jazeera, PNA National Security Adviser Jibril Rajoub described media reports on Arafat's health as "blatant exaggerations, which only reflect our enemies' bad wishes."

Rajoub argued that if Arafat's health were so critical he wouldhave been called back home, which has not happened.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said Tuesday that Arafat was in pain because of serious "intestinal flu," but doctors flown in from Egypt and Tunisia expected him to be feelingmuch better in a few days.

Shaath said the doctors had ruled out stomach cancer.

Arafat's senior adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina denied the Israeli reports that Arafat collapsed earlier in the day and had lost consciousness for several hours.

Abu Rudeina said Arafat's condition was stable and needed more rest because of his fatigue.

Confined to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah for the past two years by Israeli forces, Arafat underwent a minordiagnostic procedure on Monday after complaining of stomach pains.

Palestinian officials said then that an endoscopy found no serious ailment.

Questions about Arafat's health have raised Palestinian fears of a bloody succession struggle after his death since he has neverpicked a successor.

In another development, Israeli forces entered the refugee campin the West Bank city of Jenin shortly after 11:00 p.m. Wednesday night, in a bid to reach those responsible for planning attacks.

Earlier information said Palestinian militants from Jenin were planning to launch attacks on Israel, the Israeli military said.

Some 40 tanks and armored vehicles moved into the refugee camp in Jenin, witnesses said. There were no reports of injuries.

Israeli officers were quoted as saying that Zakaria Zubeidi, a Jenin commander of the Fatah al-Aksa Martyrs, was among their targets of the military action.

An Israeli Defense Force spokesperson confirmed the operation, saying "an operation against the terrorist infrastructure in Jenin was underway."