Two Palestinian children were killed and a third was critically wounded today in a blast in northern Gaza, and the Israeli military acknowledged firing at rocket launchers there.

AN earth embankment around a cesspool collapsed yesterday, spewing a river of sewage and mud that killed four people and forced residents to flee from the village of Umm Naser in the Gaza Strip, officials said.

MILITANTS holed up inside a Gaza mosque besieged by Israeli troops escaped yesterday after hundreds of women who streamed there to serve as human shields provided cover for their flight, the army said.

Violence has flared in Gaza against the background of internal clashes between the new Hamas-led government and loyalists of the defeated Fatah, despite efforts to cool tempers.

DOZENS of Hamas gunmen rushed to the aid of a Cabinet minister yesterday after he was confronted by angry gunmen, sparking a shoot-out that left three people wounded in the latest explosion of infighting in the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of Hamas gunmen today rushed to the aid of a Cabinet minister after he was confronted by angry gunmen, sparking a shoot-out that left three people wounded in the latest explosion of infighting in the Gaza Strip.

ISRAELI troops yesterday fired missiles at the Gaza Strip and raided a West Bank town, killing two Islamic Jihad militants and arresting one of the group’s top leaders in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis.

At least nine Palestinians were killed when fighting erupted as Israeli troops raided two Gaza refugee camps early today.

Israeli forces fired missiles on Palestinian security buildings in the Gaza Strip, and three Palestinians were killed in two other shooting incidents.

Palestinian health officials have sent samples of tainted sweets to laboratories in Egypt, after Palestinian media claimed that Israel spread it in Gaza to harm children.