US President George W Bush, in his first public reaction to Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza, has said that the Jewish state was justified in protecting itself against Hamas militants.

In an effort to shore up a shaky truce in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military officials today said they were reducing their operations in the West Bank and had made it more difficult for field commanders to order arrest raids there.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ignited a political firestorm by linking the conflict in Lebanon to his plan to withdraw from much of the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made a final break with his former allies in the Jewish settler movement, appealing to parliament to approve a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank in a historic vote tonight.