Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened top Cabinet ministers today to discuss options after six Israelis, including three teenagers and a toddler, were killed in Palestinian attacks in two days.

Israeli troops left the West Bank city of Hebron today, ending the latest of a series of brief incursions into Palestinian territory.

A Palestinian bomber blew himself up at a busy crossroads today in northern Israel, killing only himself.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has decided to hold presidential and parliamentary elections with six months, according to the secretary general of the Palestinian Cabinet.

Fighting spread today through the alleys of densely populated West Bank refugee camps, where Palestinian militants were reportedly handing out explosives-packed belts to people willing to strap them on and challenge Israeli soldiers.

A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a Tel Aviv restaurant early today, killing three people and wounding 31, four seriously, before he was shot dead, police said, the latest in a spiral of attacks and counterattacks by Palestinians and Israeli forces.

Five Palestinian children, aged between seven and 14, were killed in a Gaza Strip blast today after one of them hit an unexploded Israeli tank shell as they walked to school.

Israel has broken off truce talks with the Palestinians after retaliating for an attack on a Jewish settlement which killed two people.

An explosion ripped through a shack in the West Bank today, killing six Palestinian activists in Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement in one of the deadliest single episodes in 10 months of Mideast violence.

An explosion ripped through a shack in the West Bank today, killing six Palestinian activists in Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement in one of the deadliest single episodes in 10 months of Mideast violence.

Palestinians today dismissed Israel’s announcement of a unilateral truce as a public relations ploy, and said calm cannot be restored until Israel halts construction in Jewish settlements and lifts its sweeping travel restrictions.

Israelis and Palestinians were today waiting to see if eight months of violence would wind down after prime minister Ariel Sharon called for a ceasefire - but rejected a plea to halt building work on West Bank Jewish settlements.