A strong explosion shook the Hilton hotel in Egypt’s Taba resort, only yards from the Israeli border, tonight, witnesses said.

THIRTEEN Palestinians and three Israelis were killed yesterday in fierce gunbattles in the northern Gaza Strip after a wave of Israeli air strikes, the worst fighting in the impoverished area in months.

Israeli troops pushed deep into the largest Palestinian refugee camp today - a first in four years of fighting – after a Palestinian rocket killed two toddlers in a border town.

ISRAELI forces killed nine Palestinians in a raid in the Gaza Strip yesterday.