Defiant Palestinian militants pounded Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip with mortar fire today, following the killing of a top Hamas militant in an air strike.

PALESTINIAN suicide bombers on a revenge mission blew up two buses seconds apart in southern Israel yesterday, killing at least 16 passengers and wounding more than 80.

Palestinian suicide bombers on a revenge mission blew up two buses seconds apart in southern Israel today, killing at least 16 passengers and wounding more than 80.

Israel freed one of the co-founders of the militant Palestinian Hamas today after holding him without trial for the past 14 months.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank was soundly rejected by his Likud Party yesterday, according to media polls.

The US government urged its citizens to leave Gaza immediately and defer travel to Israel because of security concerns since the killing of a top Hamas leader earlier this month.

A Hamas suicide bomber blew up two armed Palestinians who tried to rob him at gun point in the Gaza Strip.

ISRAELI military officials yesterday identified Mahmoud Zahar, a surgeon and prominent Hamas hard-liner, as the new leader of the Islamic militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military officials today identified Mahmoud Zahar, a surgeon and prominent Hamas hard-liner, as the new leader of the Islamic militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians fired a barrage of home-made rockets and mortar shells at Gaza Strip settlements and towns inside Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

Palestinians fired a barrage of home-made rockets and mortar shells at Gaza Strip settlements and towns inside Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

ISRAEL will invest hundreds of millions of euro in West Bank settlements even as it pulls out of the Gaza Strip and a few other settlements, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday.

Israel will invest hundreds of millions of pounds in West Bank settlements even as it pulls out of the Gaza Strip and a few other settlements, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today.

Terror group Hamas secretly appointed a new Gaza Strip chief today, but refused to reveal his identity after Israel assassinated two Hamas leaders in less than a month.

An Israeli missile strike killed Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi tonight in a strike on his car. Rantisi's son Mohammed and a bodyguard were also killed in the attack, hospital officials said.

Key European nations, including Iraq war opponents Germany and France, vigorously rejected a truce offer purportedly from Osama bin Laden, saying there could be no negotiating with his al- Qaida terrorist network.

Israeli Jews burned bread in the streets and cleaned their homes today in last-minute preparations for the week-long Passover holiday, overshadowed by high security alerts and spreading poverty.

Palestinians might not get a state for many years as a result of Israel’s unilateral “disengagement” plan, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today.

The four westerners “slaughtered like sheep” in Iraq were private security guards hired by a US company that recruits former special forces soldiers, including ex-members of the SAS.

Egypt today offered to host a new meeting of Arab leaders, but the head of the Arab League said there were no immediate plans to do so following the collapse of the Arab summit two days before its scheduled opening.

US President George W Bush is the enemy of God and Islam, the new Hamas chief in Gaza said today, declaring that God’s war against the United States and Israel was ongoing.

HAMAS yesterday launched an ill-fated sea-borne attack on an Israeli beach-front settlement in Gaza.

European Union leaders warned Israel today they will not recognise any grab of Palestinian land resulting from the construction of an extensive security barrier meant to lock out terrorists.

Hamas leaders say they are not targeting the United States in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of their founder, but will hit back at Israel and target Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for death.

ISRAEL will try to kill the entire leadership of Hamas after assassinating the founder of the Islamic militant group in a missile strike, security sources said in Jerusalem yesterday.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas hard-liner, has been named acting leader of the group in Gaza, a spokesman said tonight.

Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli military vehicle near Gaza City today and fired a mortar at a nearby settlement.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a hardliner who opposes even a temporary truce with Israel, is emerging as a Hamas strongman in the Palestinian areas after the assassination of the group’s founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

Hours after Israel killed the spiritual leader of Hamas, the largely dormant Lebanese-Israeli front erupted in fighting today.

Anti-Israel demonstrations erupted across the Arab world today after Israel assassinated Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, with a missile attack outside a Gaza City mosque.

Arabs universally condemned the assassination of the Palestinian militant leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin, vowing revenge on Israelis.

Israeli forces killed Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the violent Hamas movement, in a missile attack in Gaza early today, an attack that is expected to to escalate Palestinian-Israeli violence dramatically.

ISRAELI forces briefly raided the West Bank town of Bethlehem yesterday and dynamited the home of a Palestinian who blew up a Jerusalem bus. The move was far short of a large-scale reprisal customary after a deadly suicide attack.

A SENIOR Israeli official warned that the founder of the Islamic militant group Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, was “marked for death”.

Israel will kill the founder of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in retaliation for a suicide attack on border guards, Israel’s deputy defence minister said in the bluntest warning yet against leaders of the Islamic militant group.

Israel is set to resume targeted killings of top Hamas militants and levelled a blunt warning to the group’s elderly spiritual leader that he tops the list of those to be hunted and put to death.

THE young mother-of-two suicide bomber who blew herself up killing four Israelis was given a martyr’s funeral in Gaza city yesterday.

Israel shut down the Gaza Strip today after a Palestinian bomber killed four Israelis at a Gaza crossing – the first time the Islamic Hamas group had sent a woman on a suicide mission.

A PALESTINIAN mother-of-two blew herself up yesterday at the main crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing at least four Israelis and wounding seven other people.

Israel must halt construction of a West Bank security barrier and show movement on other issues if it wants a summit between the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said today.

REBUFFING the incoming Palestinian Prime Minister, the leader of Hamas said yesterday the militant group will not disarm, agree to a truce or join the new Palestinian government.

A large-scale swap of prisoners with Lebanese guerrillas is closer than ever, Israeli premier Ariel Sharon said today.

Israel launched its revenge attacks for two suicide bombings with an air raid on a senior Hamas leader’s home in Gaza City today.

An Israeli airstrike has killed three members of a Hamas leader's family in Gaza City today.