Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today endorsed the idea of early elections, deepening animosities with Hamas following the Islamic militant group’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.

A group representing Israeli victims of Palestinian violence is mounting a court challenge against the planned release on Friday of 256 prisoners.

Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell travelled to Israel today to show solidarity with Israeli academics amid efforts by a British professors’ union to shun Israeli colleagues in protest of the occupation of Palestinian territories.

Israel rounded up more than 30 Hamas leaders in the West Bank including a Cabinet minister, taking its conflict with Hamas over daily Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza to a new level.

Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today warned Israel it would be uprooted if the Jewish state attacked Lebanon in the coming summer.

Hamas militiamen pulled back from Gaza’s streets today, and Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh declared that calm was returning to the area after a deadly explosion of violence between his Hamas group and its Fatah rivals.

ISRAEL yesterday released the Palestinian deputy prime minister, the highest ranking of some 30 officials in the Hamas-led government, after jailing him without charges for more than a month.

An Israeli military court today ordered the release of the Palestinian deputy prime minister, a defence lawyer said in Jerusalem.

Hamas officials today gave Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the go-ahead for negotiations with Israel, a major shift in the militant Islamic group’s position toward the Jewish state as it worked to end its international isolation.

Palestinians launched an investigation today after seven people were rushed to hospital when one of them opened a suspicious envelope addressed to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, officials said.

The head of Israel’s southern military command confirmed today that Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer was among the Hamas officials Israel arrested in an early morning sweep.

Israeli forces rounded up dozens of Palestinian Cabinet ministers and MPs from Hamas today, increasing pressure on the Islamic militants to release a captured Israeli soldier.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas put himself on a collision course with Hamas after blocking the party’s plan to set up a security force of 4,000 militants.

A previously unknown group today said it had kidnapped three Hamas officials in the West Bank, accusing the Islamic group of putting itself above the law.