THE International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has offered to facilitate the exchange of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for Palestinian prisoners.

The Israeli Prime Minister has said he will hold talks with President Hosni Mubarak next week to seek ways to promote Middle East peacemaking.

HUNDREDS of Israelis have gathered in Jerusalem to call for the government to step up efforts to free Sergeant Gilad Shalit, a soldier captured by militants in 2006.

ISRAEL intends to exert control over the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip following its 22-day offensive, and is seeking guarantees that no UN projects will benefit Hamas, officials said yesterday.

Hamas militants today released a recorded message from captured Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the first sign of life from the young serviceman since he was abducted exactly one year ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was to meet military commanders today to hear options on how to respond to the first rocket barrage by Hamas militants since the two sides reached a truce in Gaza five months ago.

The supreme leader of Hamas has promised that the militant group will end missile attacks and other violence against Israel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today.

One of the Palestinian militant groups that captured an Israeli soldier last summer said the serviceman is in “good health”, the first time it has given details about his condition.

Israel will not free Palestinian prisoners ahead of a major Muslim holiday, as it traditionally does, demanding that Palestinian militants first agree to release a captured Israel soldier.

Talks today between Israeli officials and a top Egyptian mediator failed to bring the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-linked militants last June any closer, an Israeli official 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.

Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting this weekend to forge a response to the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 50 people in the past few days, the head of the Arab League said today.

Israeli helicopter gunships, tanks and ground troops tightened their grip today on a northern Gaza town they overran yesterday, killing two Palestinians in Israel’s biggest push in months to stop militant rocket fire.

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.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in comments broadcast today that he hopes to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the coming days.

A 14-year-old girl was killed today in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip.

Hamas officials today gave Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the go-ahead for negotiations with Israel, a major shift in the militant Islamic group’s position toward the Jewish state as it worked to end its international isolation.

THE US has put forward plans to deploy international observers at the main cargo crossing between Israel and Gaza to prevent repeated security closures of Gaza’s economic lifeline.

The US proposes deploying international observers at the main cargo crossing between Israel and Gaza to prevent repeated security closures of Gaza’s economic lifeline, Palestinian and Israeli officials said today.

Israeli warplanes struck three buildings in a village near the market town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon as they renewed attacks on suspected Hezbollah targets today, killing three people and wounding nine, including four children, Lebanese security officials said.

A Palestinian politician and a spokesman for the Hamas military wing today denied a report that the release of a captured Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip could be imminent.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today said Israel’s incursion into Lebanon had raised the spectre of a large-scale Middle East war and urged world powers to intervene “to stop this serious deterioration”.

Syria’s vice president today blamed Israel for the escalating violence in Lebanon and Palestinian territories, and Arab countries worried over possible Israeli retaliation against Syria after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by its ally, Hezbollah.

Israeli leaders approved new incursions into the Gaza Strip, security officials said today, after the Hamas leader said he would not free an Israeli soldier whose capture by Palestinian militants led to a bloody 13-day confrontation.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today that freeing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier would be a “major mistake”.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today said he is making an all-out effort to win the release of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas-allied militants, but also called on Israel to free thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

Acting on behalf of Arab nations, Qatar circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution today demanding Israel end its offensive in the Gaza Strip and release the Palestinian officials it has arrested.

The father of a captured Israeli soldier today called on the government to consider releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his son, despite the government’s refusal to negotiate with the captors.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today ignored a deadline to free Palestinian prisoners and instead ordered the army to target ”terrorists” and their backers, in an apparent threat against Syria.

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”.

The soldier whose abduction sparked Israel’s invasion of Gaza is alive and in stable condition, a Palestinian official said today, as President Mahmoud Abbas warned that the coming hours were “critical, sensitive and serious” to resolving the crisis.

In his first public address since Israel began its offensive into the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas today said his government would not cave into Israeli demands but said he was working hard to end a five-day-old crisis with Israel.

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.

Palestinian militants have agreed to a conditional release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier, but Israel has not yet accepted their terms, according to Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Russia today asked the militant group Hamas to immediately release a captive Israeli soldier, news agencies reported.

A Hamas official close to the Islamic movement’s exiled leader today described Israel’s detention of dozens of Palestinian Cabinet ministers and MPs belonging to the group as an act of hostage-taking that complicated efforts to trade a captured Israeli soldier for Arab prisoners.

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.

Israeli aircraft struck northern and southern Gaza today as thousands of troops, backed by warplanes and tanks, forged into the coastal strip in an operation meant to pummel Palestinian militants into releasing an Israeli soldier.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza could jeopardise the life of an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants, a senior Hamas official said today.

Palestinians dug in behind walls and and embankments in the southern Gaza Strip today after Israel sent in troops and tanks.

Prime minister Ehud Olmert today said after the launch of a military incursion into Gaza that Israel wouldn’t balk at “extreme action” to bring home a soldier captured by Palestinian militants.