The deputy leader of Hamas said the Islamic militant group has agreed to a long-term truce with Israel for the Gaza Strip, according to Egypt’s official news agency.

Israel forces entered a northern Gaza town today and seized a local Hamas leader from his home amid heavy fighting with Palestinian gunmen, the Israeli military and Hamas militants said.

Arab states became increasingly worried today about the worsening situation in Gaza following Israel's fuel cuts.

Thousands of angry mourners marched through Gaza today to bury the son of the top Hamas leader who was killed with 16 other Palestinians in an Israeli raid.

Israeli troops raided the northern Gaza Strip today, killing at least nine Palestinians, including the son of a senior Hamas leader and three civilians, in an operation against rocket squads.

A video has been released showing kidnapped British Gaza-based journalist Alan Johnston in an apparent suicide bomber explosives belt and warning it will be detonated if an attempt is made to free him by force.

The kidnappers of BBC reporter Alan Johnston fear they will be harmed if they release him now that Hamas is in control of Gaza, a senior Hamas official said.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas lashed out at the Islamic militants of Hamas, accusing them of trying to build an “empire of darkness” in the Gaza Strip and pledging he would not negotiate with the “murderous terrorists”.

A ceasefire started taking hold in the Gaza Strip today, after five days of intense Hamas-Fatah fighting that left 34 people dead.

Warring Hamas and Fatah factions in Gaza have tonight declared a ceasefire.

Shots were fired today at the Gaza City home of Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas, Palestinian security officials and Hamas TV reported.

Fierce fighting between Hamas and Fatah militants in Gaza and the West Bank continued today despite an official ceasefire.

Hamas gunmen killed two Palestinian policemen loyal to the rival Fatah movement this morning, just hours after the sides agreed to a new ceasefire meant to end more than a week of factional fighting.

Palestinian gunmen waged a street battle outside the residence of President Mahmoud Abbas today, only hours after rival factions Fatah and Hamas reached a ceasefire in a bid to end days of bloody fighting.

Hamas gunmen, angry over an apparent assassination attempt against a top Hamas official, attacked President Mahmoud Abbas’ residence in Gaza City, witnesses said.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has called for an early election to end his violent clash with Hamas, in a gamble that banks on the support of Palestinians as he seeks to weaken the Islamic militants, avoid civil war and continue peace overtures with Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced today that he would call new presidential and parliament elections at the earliest possible date, in a bold challenge to ruling Hamas militants that risked sparking a full-scale civil war.

The Israeli army arrested 16 Palestinian militants today in raids across the West Bank, despite a decision by the military to scale back operations in order to bolster a fragile truce in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said in the NBC interview today that he had no objection to the US negotiating with Iran on the nuclear issue to achieve a peaceful compromise.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has begun a five-day visit to the United States.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar accepted an Arab proposal today for a peace conference to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Arab diplomats 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.

Eighteen ambulances, flanked by Palestinian police cars, began the slow procession from hospital morgues in northern Gaza to the cemetery where 18 victims of an Israeli artillery attack were to be buried today.

Two Palestinian militants from Hamas, including a relative of the Palestinian foreign minister, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a car in Gaza City at nightfall today, witnesses and doctors said.

President Mahmoud Abbas’ bumpy efforts to set up a Palestinian government acceptable to the West suffered a new setback today, after the prime minister from the Islamic militant group Hamas said he would not lead a coalition that recognises Israel.

RESIDENTS of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza dug through the rubble of their damaged homes and UN schools yesterday, after Israeli troops pulled out following a two-day incursion aimed at stopping militants from firing rockets at Israel.

Residents of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza dug through the rubble of their damaged homes, bridges and UN schools today, after Israeli troops pulled out following a two-day incursion aimed at stopping militants from firing rockets at Israel.

Israel today bombed the empty Palestinian Foreign Ministry building for the second time in less than a week, calling it a warning to the ruling Hamas and keeping up pressure as it searched for a kidnapped soldier.

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.

Hamas is close to agreeing to major concessions over a document that implies recognition of Israel, a senior Hamas official suggested today.

PALESTINIAN Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar returned from a trip to the Muslim world yesterday with a suitcase bulging with cash, a sign of Hamas’s desperation to replenish government coffers drained by a Western boycott.

The Israeli army fired missiles at a car in Gaza City today, killing at least two Hamas militants and wounding five other people, the army and Palestinian officials said.

Thousands of Hamas followers gathered to donate money and jewellery to their cash-strapped government, while a Western boycott stirred debate inside the militant group over whether to accept a state alongside Israel.

A member of Hamas detained for arms smuggling said he was ordered to monitor a Jordanian intelligence officer, according to a televised confession broadcast on state TV today.

Jordan today announced the arrest of more than 20 Hamas activists for allegedly smuggling weapons to attack targets in the kingdom and warned the Palestinian Hamas-led government of the consequences of any terrorist activity.

Masked Palestinian police sealed off a main road in the central Gaza town of Khan Younis today and briefly stormed a government building in anger over not receiving their salaries from the Hamas-led government.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh today said the Hamas-led government will not cave in to financial pressure from the West.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar today left on a fund-raising tour of Arab nations as the Hamas-led government struggles to find new sources of money to fill its bankrupt treasury.

The Islamic militant group Hamas is ready for a “two-state” solution with Israel, a senior official said today, a position that would imply recognition of the Jewish state for the first time.

The new Hamas government has prepared an emergency plan for its first three months of rule, and is to discuss it at its first Cabinet meeting today, the deputy Palestinian prime minister said.

Newly-installed Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar said the United States is biased toward Israel, guilty of crimes against the Muslim and Arab world and is widening the rift between the American people and those of the Middle East.

The militant Islamic Hamas today moved a step closer to taking control of the Palestinian government, calling a special session of parliament to approve its new Cabinet, sweeping aside objections from the Palestinian president over its refusal to recognise Israel.

Hamas says it has completed the formation of its government without bring in moderate parties, a step that looked likely to only increase the chances of international isolation.

Negotiators from Islamic Hamas and Fatah, the party it defeated in January’s Palestinian elections, failed to make progress in talks today about a new government, both sides said, and further consultations appeared unlikely.