The United Nations Security Council will meet tomorrow to start the process of formally considering the Palestinian request for membership in the world body.

An adviser to Mahmoud Abbas said today that the Palestinian president sees no need to quit indirect Middle East peace talks over Israel’s assault on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid ship.

The UN Security Council today expressed serious concern at the escalating situation in Gaza and called on Israel and the Palestinians to immediately halt all violence..

United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan urged Israel to “do their utmost” to protect civilians after two Palestinian women were killed as they marched into a Gaza combat zone to help free gunmen besieged at a mosque.

Israel warned today that a new “axis of terror” – Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government – was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century.