Israel’s hardline Likud party would score a big win at the expense of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima and his main partner Labour – a complete turnaround – if elections were held now, according to a poll published today.

Israelis would vote Ehud Olmert out of office if elections were held now, polls indicated today, as the defiant prime minister defended his performance in the Lebanon war and lashed out at his critics.

Nearly seven out of 10 Israelis are dissatisfied with prime minister Ehud Olmert’s performance and his greatest political rival would win an election, according to an opinion poll today

Israel’s parliament today granted Israeli president Moshe Katsav’s request to temporarily step down in light of a police investigation into accusations he sexually harassed former employees.

Nearly nine out of 10 Israelis say the army’s week-old operation against Hezbollah is justified and nearly 60% say Israel should fight until the Lebanese guerrilla group is destroyed, according to an opinion poll published today.

Israeli media websites today reported a loud explosion had been heard near Tel Aviv.

Israel, pressured by international alarm over a brewing Palestinian humanitarian crisis, has agreed to release millions of pounds in funds it has withheld from the Palestinians and is considering easing restrictions on the transport of goods between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Israel is to launch a spy satellite today to collect information on Iran’s nuclear programme.

FIGHTING his fear, teenager Jachun Ismailov went back to work at a Tel Aviv falafel restaurant after a January bombing there to support his family which has struggled since immigrating to Israel from Azerbaijan.

ACTING Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hopes to complete his plan to withdraw from much of the West Bank and draw the country’s final borders before the US presidential election in 2008, an Israeli newspaper reported yesterday.

ACTING Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to withdraw from more West Bank settlements immediately after forming Israel's next government and to set Israel's final borders within four years, a top political ally said yesterday.

A top political ally of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today confirmed plans for a further unilateral withdrawal, or disengagement, from West Bank settlements.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s breathing is improving and he may soon be disconnected from a respirator, an Israeli daily newspaper reported today.

Israel’s army chief has ruled out a pre-emptive attack against Iranian nuclear sites, despite their apparent effort to build nuclear weapons, an Israeli newspaper reported today.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today briefly opened his eyes in response to a recording of his grandson’s voice, family members told doctors, though hospital officials warned there were no signs that the comatose Israeli leader was any closer to regaining consciousness.

Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened his eyes today for the first time since suffering a massive stroke on January 4.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who suffered a massive stroke last week, has shown movement on his left side, Israeli media reported today.

Israel’s most tightly-guarded secret has nothing to do with its military might. It is Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s weight.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is renowned for his steel will, but there is one thing that just might be stronger than “the Bulldozer” - his appetite.

PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon widened his lead over his rivals yesterday as Hamas said its nine-month truce is over.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has widened his lead over his rivals in upcoming national elections following a suicide bombing at an Israeli mall this week, according to new public opinion polls published today.

Masked men carrying Kalashnikov guns have stolen a four-month-old lion cub, named Sabrina, from the Gaza Strip’s only zoo.

Ariel Sharon’s main allies launched their election campaign today, saying the prime minister’s new centrist party would push for a final agreement with the Palestinians and the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Polls published today, a day after Ariel Sharon broke away from his hardline Likud party, showed him mustering enough support to return to the prime minister’s seat at the head of a moderate coalition.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today agreed to hold early elections, possibly as soon as February, kicking off a political campaign certain to freeze all moves to restart middle-east peace talks.

A Palestinian who was throwing a firebomb on a West Bank bypass road was shot by soldiers this evening, and Israeli media reported he died of his wounds.

ISRAEL could eventually relinquish more West Bank settlements, beyond the four to be dismantled in coming weeks, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suggested in an interview published yesterday.

Israel’s top security chiefs are looking to tighten the already shortened Gaza Strip evacuation timetable, defence and government officials said today.

PROTESTERS planning to march into the Gaza strip to demonstrate against the plan to abandon Jewish settlements there last night looked likely to fail.

Opponents of Israel's Gaza pullout were penned into a farming village today, surrounded by police and confused over their next move. Some of their leaders admitted defeat in what was to have been the most formidable protest yet - a march of thousands to Gaza to join the settlers there.

Hackers who broke into the computers of some of Israel’s biggest industrial corporations also stole highly sensitive defence data, a senior police investigator said today.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has agreed to delay the pull-out from the Gaza Strip by three weeks, ostensibly to avoid a conflict with a Jewish period of mourning.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon signalled that he is dropping what was once his key demand for resuming peace talks – a Palestinian crackdown on militant groups.

Palestinians need time to “build a new house” following the death of Yasser Arafat, and the key to a ceasefire with Palestinian militants is in Israel’s hands, said Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan in an interview published today.

Tests on Yasser Arafat showed problems with his digestion, but the Palestinian leader has recovered sufficiently to undergo further examinations that could not be performed when he was first rushed to France, an aide said.

A preliminary report presented to Israel’s army chief today said it could not be proven that a platoon commander repeatedly shot an injured 13-year-old Palestinian girl.

A radar system installed in an Israeli border town provides a 20 second warning if Palestinian militants fire rockets from the nearby Gaza Strip, an Israeli arms manufacturer said today.

Israel will begin building another 533 housing units in the West Bank next year, an official said today, the latest indication that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is working to strengthen West Bank settlements while pushing ahead with a Gaza pullout plan.

Israel confirmed its helicopters targeted a Palestinian militant involved in the death of six Israeli soldiers and Israeli media described the attack today as a vengeance killing for flaunting the severed head of an Israeli victim.

Ibrahim Barzak, Gaza City

Israel’s ruling Likud Party will reject Ariel Sharon’s proposal to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements, according to polls published today.

ISRAELI military officials yesterday identified Mahmoud Zahar, a surgeon and prominent Hamas hard-liner, as the new leader of the Islamic militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military officials today identified Mahmoud Zahar, a surgeon and prominent Hamas hard-liner, as the new leader of the Islamic militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Iraq had chemical weapons and the means to deliver them ahead of last year’s US-led invasion, Israel’s military chief claimed in an interview published today.