Mahmoud Abbas is under growing pressure from his Fatah Party to postpone the January 25 parliament election amid fears about a possible Hamas victory, an aide to the Palestinian leader said today.

A major Palestinian militant group today declared it would fire no more rockets during Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, after a deadly barrage inadvertently killed a three-year-old Palestinian boy.

A three-year-old boy was killed and nine other people wounded in the northern Gaza Strip today when rockets fired by militants misfired and landed in Palestinian areas, rescue workers said.

SAID BILAL has four sons in Israeli jails, two of them serving life terms, and is anxiously awaiting word from yesterday’s summit on the fate of Palestinian prisoners.

About 1,600 Palestinian prisoners began a hunger strike today to protest at conditions in Israeli jails – despite a warning by Israel’s public security minister said they could “starve to death” before he agrees to ease restrictions.