Palestinian militants launched dozens of rockets and Israel responded with airstrikes after Egyptian efforts to mediate a lasting truce in the month-long Gaza war collapsed in a hail of fire a day earlier.

Israel yesterday launched air strikes across the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rockets fired after Egyptian- mediated talks failed to extend a 72-hour truce in the month-long war.

At least four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli tank fire nearly two hours after Israel and Hamas began observing a three-day ceasefire, Gaza officials have said.

Israeli war planes have unleashed airstrikes against Syrian army targets in response to a roadside bombing in the Golan Heights that wounded four soldiers.

A senior Israeli official has accused Google of setting back Middle East peace hopes by putting “Palestine” under the banner of its search page for the Palestinian territories.

Israel’s military has deployed a rocket defence system to the north of the country following reported Israeli airstrikes in neighbouring Syria targeting weapons believed to be destined for Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants.

Israeli strikes hit two media centres in the Gaza Strip today as Israel warned it was widening its range of targets to go after military commanders of the territory’s Hamas rulers.

A flare-up in fighting between Israel and militants from Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement has subsided after intervention from the government in Egypt.

A series of rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into southern Israel, prompting Israeli air strikes that killed a Palestinian militant.

Masked gunmen killed 16 Egyptian soldiers at a checkpoint along the border with Gaza and Israel, the first such attack on troops.

Israel would “have to act” if the Syrian regime collapses and there is a risk Syria’s chemical weapons and missiles could fall into the hands of militant groups, the Jewish state’s prime minister warned today.

Three rockets have been fired at northern Israel from Lebanon, and at least two of them struck Israeli soil, Israeli military sources said.

A captured Israeli soldier has been moved across the border into Egypt, beginning an elaborate prisoner swap deal in which hundreds of Palestinian inmates are to be freed in return for the captured tank crewman, Palestinian officials in Gaza said.

Gaza militants launched barrages of rockets deep into Israel early today and Israeli aircraft struck targets in the Palestinian territory in the aftermath of the deadliest attack against Israelis in three years.

An Irish ship has dropped out of the pro-Palestinian flotilla planning to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, citing sabotage, and a US ship declared it may set sail from a Greek port for Gaza without permission, activists said.

The body of a female tourist has been found bound and repeatedly stabbed outside Jerusalem, Israeli police said.

An inferno that has raged for four days in a northern Israeli forest is under control, fire chiefs said today.

ISRAEL would be allowed to finish hundreds of apartments already under construction in West Bank settlements, even if it agrees to a US-drafted deal to renew a freeze on new construction, a diplomat familiar with the details said yesterday.

Israel’s hard-line foreign minister said his party would try to block any extension of Israel’s settlement slowdown, a move that could derail the Middle East peace negotiations.

A flotilla of ships carrying tons of supplies for the Gaza Strip will set sail for the blockaded territory today, the organiser said.

Israel said today it will press forward with construction of new housing for Jews in east Jerusalem, drawing Palestinian accusations that the plans could undermine newly relaunched peace talks.

PALESTINIAN officials said yesterday they were preparing to ask the United Nations to endorse an independent state without Israel’s consent, because they are losing hope they can achieve their aspirations through peace talks.

European leaders today pressed Iran to stick by a deal that would limit its uranium enrichment, voicing “grave concern” over the country’s nuclear programme.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sketched out a plan how the US might cope with a nuclear Iran — by arming its allies in the Gulf and extending a “defence umbrella” over the region.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel will continue to build homes in existing West Bank settlements, defying US calls to halt settlement growth.

A Palestinian wielding a knife was shot dead by Jewish settlers today in what appeared to be a foiled attack in a West Bank settlement.

A PRISONER swap deal with Hamas is all but impossible before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert leaves office this week and will have to wait for the new government to be sworn in, a top aide to the Israeli leader said yesterday.

Israeli leaders have been discussing a comprehensive Saudi peace plan and debating how to respond to it, Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak said today.

At least one person was killed today and six others injured, one critically, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the southern Israeli town which houses the country’s nuclear reactor, authorities said.

Gaza City awoke today to shuttered bread shops and petrol stations today as Israel pressed ahead with efforts to stop Palestinian rocket fire, refusing to reopen crossings or allow in crucial fuel supplies.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to begin tackling the core issues of a final peace agreement in a last-minute push to breathe life into stalled negotiations before US president George Bush's arrival in the Middle East today.

A Palestinian rocket exploded in an Israeli army base early today, wounding 50 soldiers and drawing Israeli calls for a major military operation against rocket squads in the Gaza Strip.

Prime minister Ehud Olmert convened his top ministers today to discuss Israel’s response to the latest wave of Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian rocket exploded this morning next to a day-care centre crowded with toddlers in southern Israel, sparking anger and panic in the frequently targeted town of Sderot and bringing warnings of retribution from Israeli leaders.

The United States today offered Israel an unprecedented $30 (€22bn) military aid package, bolstering its closest Mideast ally.

Hezbollah possesses sophisticated weapons that could be used to target Israel, a retired Lebanese army general said today, a day after the militant group’s leader promised that Israel would face a “big surprise” if it invaded Lebanon.

Israel’s government will revise a widely-criticised plan to grant needy Holocaust survivors a monthly allowance of £10 (€15), officials said today, after survivors said the plan was laughable.

Israeli authorities have decided to drop plans to pursue rape charges against president Moshe Katsav in a surprising plea bargain, Israeli media reported today.

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.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav’s lawyers made a last-ditch effort today to stave off an indictment on rape and other sexual assault charges at a hearing before Israel’s top prosecutor.

An Israeli lecturer who died in the massacre at a US university saved the lives of several students by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before he was fatally shot, his relatives told Israeli media today.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav has been notified that a draft indictment being prepared by Attorney General Meni Mazuz may include a second rape charge, the Israeli Justice Ministry said.

Disagreements among Israelis and Palestinians over the scope and goal of next week’s summit meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are leaving its prospects in doubt.

Saudi Arabia brought the two main Palestinian leaders to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, today for a last-ditch attempt to end their bloody conflict and complete a power-sharing agreement on a coalition government.