Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired rockets and mortars into southern Israel today, despite an unofficial truce meant to defuse days of escalating violence.

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.

A wave of floating bombs designed to wash up on Israel's beaches were released in a revenge attack by Palestinian militants for the death of a top Hamas member.

HAMAS officials said yesterday an agreement with Israel on a long-term ceasefire in Gaza could be announced within days, but a new cycle of attacks by both sides strained a temporary truce.

Four Palestinians firing mortars have been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Israel increased the trickle of badly needed goods flowing into the Gaza Strip today, a military spokesman said, in the latest stage of a four-day-old truce with Hamas militants.

Two Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinian gunmen who crossed the border from Gaza before fleeing back there today.

Gaza’s only electrical plant shut down today after Israel blocked the shipment of fuel that powers them.

Hamas pounded Gaza City’s three main security compounds and President Mahmoud Abbas’ headquarters with mortars, grenades and assault rifles today, calling on beleaguered Fatah forces to surrender, in an apparent attempt to take control of the entire Gaza Strip.

Little progress was reported from the second summit meeting in a month between Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Little progress was reported tonight from the second summit meeting in a month between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Tens of thousands of Fatah supporters packed Gaza’s main soccer stadium today in a massive show of strength to boost the movement in its increasingly violent struggle against the Islamic militant group Hamas.

One of the Palestinian militant groups holding a captured Israeli soldier today said progress has been made in efforts to free the serviceman as part of a prisoner swap with Israel.

Israel’s Defence Minister Amir Peretz said today he has asked the army to dismantle some of the checkpoints that have severely disrupted Palestinian travel in the West Bank, part of a package of goodwill gestures Israel hopes will boost the moderate Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian police arrested a Hamas-linked militant in Gaza City this morning, sparking a gun battle that left two police officers wounded, witnesses said.

The Egyptian official negotiating an Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap plans to deliver to Israel today a Hamas demand that Israel free 1,400 detainees in exchange for a soldier held since June, Palestinian officials said.

Israeli troops shot and killed a Hamas-linked militant in a West Bank raid this morning, casting a cloud over a day-old truce that ended more than five months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.

A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip appeared to be holding this morning, stopping Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli operations for the first time in five months.

Israel called off airstrikes on the homes of two militants today after hundreds of Palestinians crowded around the buildings forming human shields, a new tactic that forced the Israelis to re-evaluate their aerial campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops killed seven Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip today, one of the bloodiest days of fighting during a four-month offensive.

Israeli troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip today shot and killed seven Palestinians, including three brothers and their cousin, Palestinian hospital officials said.

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.

Hamas militiamen withdrew from the streets of the Gaza Strip today and returned to their normal posts after the worst day of internal violence since Hamas took control of the Palestinian government in March.

Two Fox News journalists were released today after nearly two weeks in captivity in Gaza.

ISRAELI air and artillery attacks in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday killed 14 Palestinians, including 12 gunmen and a little girl — the latest violence on the second front of Israel’s fight against Islamic militants.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert today ignored a deadline to begin releasing Palestinian prisoners and instead issued a veiled threat against Syria, vowing to strike “those who sponsor” the militants in the Gaza Strip who seized a young Israeli soldier.

Militants holding an Israeli soldier today said they would give no further information about him because Israel ignored a deadline to release Palestinian prisoners.

A senior Israeli Cabinet minister today warned of a harsh military response in the Gaza Strip if an abducted Israeli is harmed by his Palestinian captors.

The three Palestinian militant groups that captured an Israeli soldier have given Israel until 6am tomorrow to release Palestinian prisoners or “pay the consequences”.

Palestinian militants holding an abducted Israeli soldier issued a new set of demands today, calling for a halt in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and urging the release of 1,000 prisoners from Israeli jails.

In a direct message to Hamas’ interior minister in Gaza, Israeli jet fighters destroyed his office early today, intensifying an air invasion while delaying a broad ground offensive to give Arab mediators a last chance to gain the release of a kidnapped soldier.

A Plestinian militant group said today it had killed an 18-year-old Israeli settler kidnapped earlier in the West Bank.

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.

A Palestinian militant group today threatened to kill an abducted Jewish settler if Israel does not stop its raid on the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian militant leader today said a captured Israeli soldier was being held in a “secure place,” and he claimed that his group also seized a Jewish settler in the West Bank.

A statement from Palestinian groups purporting to hold an Israeli soldier have demanded the release of women and children under 18 held in Israeli prisons.

Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated Israel through a tunnel early today, attacking a military post and killing two Israelis before soldiers shot dead three gunmen, the army, militants and witnesses said.

An Israeli airstrike targeted a group of Palestinians after they tried to fire home-made rockets into Israel, killing three militants, hospital officials said.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians, some firing weapons in the air, flocked to a Gaza Strip stadium today to bury the highest-profile militant commander that Israel has killed in four years.

The Palestinian government’s security chief, a key player in rocket attacks on Israel, was killed late yesterday in an Israeli air strike that threatened to escalate clashes between the two sides into a far fiercer conflict.

An Israeli aircraft attacked a training camp used by Palestinian militants in Gaza City today, killing at least four militants, Palestinian security officials said.

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.

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.

The entire Palestinian Cabinet could be targeted for assassination after the Hamas-led government appointed a wanted militant as head of a new Palestinian security force, an Israeli politician and former intelligence chief said today.