Israel’s ground offensive will not go beyond southern Lebanon, a senior Israeli army commander said today, for the first time outlining the scope of the two-week-old campaign.

Lebanon seeks an immediate ceasefire in the nearly two-week old Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah in the country’s south, Lebanon’s ambassador to Japan said today.

After declaring victory in Israeli elections, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima Party said today it would quickly form a broad ruling coalition that will pull out of much of the West Bank and draw Israel’s borders by 2010.

Israel’s president today said he’ll start talking to party leaders next week about forming a coalition, and that he expected a stable government would emerge.

Acting prime minister Ehud Olmert, the front-runner in March 28 Israeli parliament elections, today said he will change Israel’s borders in coming years.

An explosion went off today during a test at an Israeli arms development centre, injuring at least six people.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon remained comatose and in a critical condition today, nine days after his massive stroke.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon remained comatose and in a critical condition today, nine days after his stroke.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who is trying to beat back a hard-line revolt in his Likud Party, faced a new challenge today, after an Israeli TV station reported that he violated campaign financing laws.

Israeli troops buried a synagogue before they left the Jewish settlement of Sanur in the West Bank, the Defence Ministry said today.

Thousands of masked Hamas gunmen marched in formation at a large victory rally in an empty Jewish settlement today, the Islamic militant group’s latest show of strength since Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

A senior Israeli defence official today challenged the Palestinian Authority to close the open border between Gaza and Egypt, saying its credibility was on the line over its failure to stop the flow of gunrunners and others across the frontier.

Israeli police today surrounded an encampment of opponents to the Gaza withdrawal, pushing back a surging crowd marching against the plans to demolish Jewish settlements.

Israeli police today pledged to stop more than 20,000 marchers, including teenagers with backpacks and parents with pushchairs, who were en route to the Gaza Strip to protest the summer's planned withdrawal – in the tensest showdown yet between protesters and the security forces.

Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been on his way to a London hotel near the scene of one of the four blasts that ripped through the city today, said Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said today.

Israel must withdraw from the Gaza Strip, no matter how well Islamic militants do in Palestinian parliament elections a month before the pullout, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said today.

Cabinet minister Natan Sharansky, a frequent critic of Israel’s peace moves with the Palestinians, submitted his resignation today in protest over the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

PALESTINIAN militants fired two rockets yesterday at a Jewish settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip, with one landing near thousands of Israelis protesting against this summer's planned withdrawal from the area.

Palestinian militants fired two rockets today at a Jewish settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip, with one landing near thousands of Israelis protesting against this summer’s planned withdrawal from the area. An Israeli soldier was lightly hurt by shrapnel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has insisted that the Gaza Strip evacuation will take place even if a proposed delay is approved, and said he has no plans for further withdrawals from the West Bank until the Palestinians take action against armed militants.

Opponents of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan for a pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank made last-ditch efforts today to rally support for a vote that could halt the withdrawal.

ISRAEL yesterday welcomed a temporary truce declared by Palestinian militants and promised to hold its fire in return, but demanded that the Palestinian Authority eventually dismantle the armed groups.

The West Bank town of Jericho and surrounding areas will be transferred to the control of Palestinians within the next few days – possibly as early as this evening – to be followed by the town of Tulkarem, a senior Israeli Defence Ministry official said today.

Israeli deputy prime minister Shimon Peres said today the Palestinian government of Mahmoud Abbas is on the right track, despite last week’s Tel Aviv suicide bombing and other attempts by Palestinian militants to torpedo a fragile truce.

Israel will release 500 Palestinian prisoners next week, one of a series of goodwill gestures aimed at strengthening the new Palestinian leadership, a Palestinian negotiator said today.

Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Jerusalem

Israel will transfer security control over several West Bank towns to the Palestinians in coming days, Israel’s defence minister said today, hours after he met with a Palestinian negotiator to work out the details of Israel’s troop redeployment.

Israel’s prime minister Ariel Sharon has cut all contact with newly-elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in a startling U-turn, saying he must halt terror attacks if he wanted peace talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cut all contact with the newly elected Palestinian leader today, promising the silence would continue until Mahmoud Abbas moves to halt militant attacks.

A tunnel filled with explosives detonated under the Israeli checkpoint on the Gaza-Egypt border near the town of Rafah today, the Israeli military said.

Israel has reached agreement with the Palestinians on the logistics of their upcoming election, a senior Palestinian official said today, but denied reports the two sides worked out a broader deal to end their decades-old conflict.

AN ailing Yasser Arafat was in the fourth day of emergency treatment yesterday at a French military hospital specialising in blood disorders, but the cause of his precipitous decline in health remained unexplained.

Israel’s deputy defence minister said today that Palestinian militants apparently were not involved the deadly car bombings in two Egyptian resorts crowded with Israeli tourists.

Israel’s defence minister is to launch a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip to stop Palestinian rocket fire on border towns.

A Palestinian gunman shot and wounded two Israelis near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Itamar today, before being killed by security guards, the army and rescue workers said.

The British journalist who helped reveal Israel’s nuclear secrets, arrested by Israel this week, is being barred from meeting with his lawyer, the lawyer said today.

Thousands of Palestinians fled Rafah refugee camp as Israeli tanks cut off the area from the rest of the Gaza Strip today in preparation for what is expected to be a major Israeli military offensive.

The father of an American beheaded in Iraq said he holds US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld responsible for his son’s death and called for his resignation.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is scrambling to come up with alternatives after his Likud Party overwhelmingly rejected a withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip, a government official said today.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is scrambling to come up with alternatives, including a possible pullout from just five Jewish settlements, after his Likud Party overwhelmingly rejected a withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip, a senior government official said today.

Dozens of anti-nuclear campaigners rallied outside Mordechai Vanunu’s prison today, a day ahead of his release, praising the former nuclear technician as a hero for revealing Israel’s nuclear secrets 18 years ago.

Mordechai Vanunu betrayed his country by spilling its nuclear secrets and restrictions imposed on him upon his release from prison are justified, Shimon Peres, the founder of Israel’s nuclear programme, said today.

PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon left for Washington Tuesday to win American backing for a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank in exchange for expanding five large West Bank settlement blocs.