Israel has stopped targeting Palestinian militants for death, security officials said early today.

Defiant Palestinian militants pounded Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip with mortar fire today, following the killing of a top Hamas militant in an air strike.

Hamas vowed revenge today after an Israeli air strike killed its second most senior commander, in the latest Israeli assassination targeting the militant group.

PALESTINIAN suicide bombers on a revenge mission blew up two buses seconds apart in southern Israel yesterday, killing at least 16 passengers and wounding more than 80.

Palestinian suicide bombers on a revenge mission blew up two buses seconds apart in southern Israel today, killing at least 16 passengers and wounding more than 80.

The Islamic militant group Hamas will continue attacks against Israelis, despite Israel’s plans to withdraw settlements and military bases from the Gaza Strip, a top Hamas leader said today.

A senior Hamas commander and his assistant have been killed in an apparent Israeli air strike in Gaza City that ripped apart their motorcycle.

Israel freed one of the co-founders of the militant Palestinian Hamas today after holding him without trial for the past 14 months.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank was soundly rejected by his Likud Party yesterday, according to media polls.

The US government urged its citizens to leave Gaza immediately and defer travel to Israel because of security concerns since the killing of a top Hamas leader earlier this month.

A Hamas suicide bomber blew up two armed Palestinians who tried to rob him at gun point in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops killed two Hamas fugitives and seriously wounded a third in a gun battle in a West Bank refugee camp 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.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his allies sent conflicting signals today over whether they would honour a Likud Party referendum on a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, as a new poll showed opponents and supporters are virtually tied.

Israeli forces backed by tanks and bulldozers raided a Gaza Strip town early today, killing at least five Palestinians, among them three militants, in fighting with gunmen, Palestinian officials said.

PALESTINIANS fired a barrage of home-made rockets and mortar shells at Gaza Strip settlements and towns inside Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

Palestinians fired a barrage of home-made rockets and mortar shells at Gaza Strip settlements and towns inside Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

Palestinians fired a barrage of home-made rockets and mortar shells at Gaza Strip settlements and towns inside Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

ISRAEL will invest hundreds of millions of euro in West Bank settlements even as it pulls out of the Gaza Strip and a few other settlements, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday.

Israel will invest hundreds of millions of pounds in West Bank settlements even as it pulls out of the Gaza Strip and a few other settlements, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today.

Democrat John Kerry today accused President George W Bush of a “stunningly ineffective” foreign policy and stuck by his argument that the war against terrorism isn’t primarily a military struggle.

Terror group Hamas secretly appointed a new Gaza Strip chief today, but refused to reveal his identity after Israel assassinated two Hamas leaders in less than a month.

Thousands of Palestinians thronged the streets of Gaza City today in the funeral procession for slain Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

Israeli officials said today they were targeting overall Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal as part of their campaign against the Islamic militant group.

An Israeli missile strike killed Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi tonight in a strike on his car. Rantisi's son Mohammed and a bodyguard were also killed in the attack, hospital officials said.

US President George W Bush is the enemy of God and Islam, the new Hamas chief in Gaza said today, declaring that God’s war against the United States and Israel was ongoing.

Hamas leaders say they are not targeting the United States in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of their founder, but will hit back at Israel and target Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for death.

ABDEL AZIZ RANTISI, a hardliner who opposes even a temporary truce with Israel, was chosen as the new Hamas leader in Gaza last night.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas hard-liner, has been named acting leader of the group in Gaza, a spokesman said tonight.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a hardliner who opposes even a temporary truce with Israel, is emerging as a Hamas strongman in the Palestinian areas after the assassination of the group’s founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

Israel was bracing itself today for suicide and other revenge attacks by Palestinian militants after the bloodiest day of fighting in the Gaza Strip in 16 months.

Israel will kill the founder of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in retaliation for a suicide attack on border guards, Israel’s deputy defence minister said in the bluntest warning yet against leaders of the Islamic militant group.

Two Palestinian suicide bombings – one at a bus stop crowded with soldiers near Tel Aviv, the second five hours later at a popular Jerusalem nightspot - killed at least 15 Israelis and maimed dozens as the region grappled with a new wave of savage bloodletting.

A SUICIDE bomber targeted off-duty Israeli soldiers at rush hour last night, killing at least eight people, in at attack that the country had been braced for.

A suicide bomber targeted off duty Israeli soldiers at rush hour tonight, killing at least seven people, in at attack that the country had been braced for.

HAMAS leaders are "marked for death" and won't have a moment's rest, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned yesterday, after Israel failed in an attempt to kill the top echelon of Hamas with a 550-pound bomb dropped on a Gaza City apartment. Israel also closed the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel has pressed ahead relentlessly with its hunt for Palestinian militants, killing a Hamas fugitive in an air strike and sending bulldozers into Gaza to flatten cover for cross-border rocket attacks.

ISRAEL plans to kill more militant chiefs in raids mirroring a lethal missile strike on a top Hamas leader, Israeli officials warned yesterday.

The Palestinian terror group Hamas called off its ceasefire today after an Israeli helicopter attack killed one of its senior leaders in Gaza City.

An Israeli helicopter fired five missiles at a car carrying a senior Hamas leader in Gaza City today, killing him and two of his bodyguards.

An Israeli helicopter fired five missiles at a car in a crowded Gaza City street today, killing three Palestinians, including the bodyguard of a senior Hamas official, witnesses said.

A SUICIDE bomber blew up a bus packed with Jews returning from the Western Wall last night, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 100 in one of the deadliest bombings in the past three years of fighting.

A suicide bomber blew up a bus packed with Jews returning from the Western Wall tonight, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 100 in one of the deadliest bombings in the past three years of fighting.