A Gaza Strip militant group spearheading a recent campaign of rocket barrages into Israel said today it was prepared to cease fire if the Israeli military did so as well.

Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets nationwide to protest rising housing prices in the largest turnout in a grass-roots movement that began two weeks ago and is demanding steps from the government to ease the burden.

Palestinian militants fired more than a dozen rockets at southern Israel today and Israeli warplanes killed four militants in the Gaza Strip in the most intense fighting since Israel's 2008-2009 offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Israeli aircraft struck a Palestinian rocket squad in the Gaza Strip today, killing two militants as the military activated a new defence system to shoot down incoming rockets.

PALESTINIAN rockets struck deep inside Israel, landing closer to the urban sprawl south of Tel Aviv, and Israeli aircraft pounded targets in Gaza in a surging conflict that has raised fears of a new war.

GAZA militants bombarded southern Israel with rockets and mortars yesterday, drawing retaliatory Israeli air strikes in an escalation of the worst hostilities in the area since Israel went to war in the Palestinian territory two years ago.

Gaza militants bombarded southern Israel with rockets and mortars today, drawing retaliatory Israeli airstrikes in an escalation of the worst hostilities in the area since Israel went to war in the Palestinian territory two years ago.

Gaza militants said they have fired rockets at Israel a day after the Israeli military killed seven Palestinians, including three children and their uncle.

Israel implemented a unilateral ceasefire early today in its 22-day offensive that turned Gaza neighbourhoods into battlegrounds and dealt a stinging blow to the Islamic militants of Hamas.

Israeli troops battled Palestinian gunmen in a suburb of Gaza City today in one of the fiercest ground battles so far as Israel’s military inched toward Gaza’s population centres and residents braced for an expansion of the offensive.

Israel said today it will not stop its offensive in the Gaza Strip despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.

Egypt was preparing to meet representatives of Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority today in an attempt to halt the fighting in Gaza.

Egypt's UN Ambassador tonight said representatives of Israel, the Palestinians and Hamas have agreed to meet tomorrow for talks brokered by Egypt.

Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early today, bisecting the coastal territory and surrounding its biggest city as the new phase of a devastating offensive against Hamas gained momentum.

Israel sent more troops to the Gaza border, rapidly moving forward with preparations for a possible ground offensive as the next stage of its military assault on the coastal territory’s Hamas rulers.

Israel defied mounting international pressure for a ceasefire and continued its devastating air attacks on Gaza today.

Israel, under international pressure, is considering a 48-hour halt to its punishing four-day air campaign on Hamas targets in Gaza to see if Palestinian militants will stop their rocket attacks on southern Israel, Israeli officials said.

Gaza militants fired two rockets at the Israeli city of Beersheba tonight - reaching deeper into Israel than ever before.

Israel today warned the people of Gaza that its attacks which have so far killed more than 300 were a "war to the bitter end".

A barrage of rockets battered an Israeli town less than half a mile from the Gaza fence today – seriously wounding a woman – just before the arrival of President Shimon Peres.

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up next to Israel’s fortified nuclear reactor, killing a woman and wounding 11 people in the first such attack in more than a year.

Israel’s security chiefs have met to discuss the Jewish state’s response to a suicide bombing at a packed Tel Aviv fast-food restaurant during the Passover holiday that killed nine people and injured dozens.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s chief surgeon said last night that it was too early to assess the extent of brain damage the prime minister may have suffered after a massive stroke and two separate operations.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon underwent emergency surgery today after a brain scan revealed a rise in intracranial pressure and some bleeding in his brain.

Israel demanded tougher action against militants and Palestinians blamed the Jewish state for an escalation in violence after a Palestinian suicide bomber targeted a bus station in Beersheba.

A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up outside an Israeli bus station during morning rush hour yesterday.

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the central bus station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba today, wounding at least 10 people, two critically, in the first such attack since Israel began its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this month.

PALESTINIAN officials said yesterday that jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti will not run for president in upcoming Palestinian elections.

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded outdoor market in central Tel Aviv today, killing at least four people and wounding 32.

A CAR bomb killed a suspected Hamas military chief in Damascus yesterday.

PALESTINIAN militants shelled an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip yesterday, killing one woman and wounding another.

Two Israelis were injured today, one seriously, when a home-made Palestinian missile made a direct hit on a home in a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

A female Palestinian suicide bomber killed two Israelis and wounded at least 16 others today when she blew herself up at a crowded crossroads in Jerusalem.

A female Palestinian suicide bomber blew herself up near a crowded bus stop in Jerusalem today, killing one person and wounding at least 14 others.

Troops sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip today, imposing a virtual blanket ban on Palestinians entering Israel until the end of the Jewish holiday season next month, due to fears of terror attacks.

ISRAELI helicopters attacked a Hamas training camp in Gaza City early yesterday, killing at least 14 people in the deadliest air strike on Palestinian militants in four years.

This week’s suicide attack in southern Israel has sparked a war of words between Israel and Syria and increased pressure to finish the West Bank barrier that many Israelis believe saves lives, regardless of international condemnation.

ISRAELI forces destroyed two apartment buildings in a Gaza refugee camp early yesterday after evacuating 6,000 Palestinians from a neighbourhood, residents and the military said.

Israel ratcheted up its rhetoric against Syria today, hinting of possible military action following this week’s suicide bombing of two buses in southern Israel.

Israeli forces destroyed two five-story apartment buildings in a Gaza refugee camp early today after evacuating thousands of Palestinians from a neighbourhood, residents and the military said.

ISRAEL vowed to hunt down Hamas leaders around the globe and to accelerate construction of its West Bank barrier after Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses killing 16 people.

TERRORISM has entered a new and brutal era when school children, parents and teachers are taken hostage.

Newcastle were today monitoring the security situation in Israel after suicide bombers killed 16 people in attacks on two buses.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has strongly condemned terrorist attacks in Israel and Russia and the gruesome murder of 12 Nepalese civilians in Iraq. The UN Security Council condemned the Israeli suicide bombings and “all other acts of terrorism”.