Israel has mobilised police and the military to keep a Hamas demonstration today against its Gaza blockade from turning into a mass border breakout.

Israel let 199 Palestinians out of the blockaded Gaza Strip today.

Israel allowed 75 Palestinians out of Gaza to resume lives abroad cut short by Hamas’ violent seizure of the coastal strip two months ago.

A group of Palestinian militants entered Israel from the Gaza Strip early today, firing at an Israeli military position before soldiers shot them, the army said.

The Gaza Strip will soon become entirely dependent on foreign aid and face “disastrous consequences” if the Hamas-run territory remains sealed off, the UN warned.

Rival Palestinian Islamic groups Hamas and Fatah called on their members to fight back after 11 militants were killed in a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip

Israeli troops clashed with Hamas militants inside the Gaza Strip on today, killing eight in fierce fighting that drew in Israeli aircraft, tanks and bulldozers, and sent militants laying mines against troops.

Israel is allowing all foreign nationals to leave Hamas-controlled Gaza and enter Israel, an Israeli military spokesman said today.

Israel’s new defence minister today ordered the army to allow into Israel any of the hundreds of Gazans holed up at a tunnel crossing who might desperately need medical treatment.

Hundreds of Fatah gunmen today stormed Hamas-controlled institutions across the West Bank, seeking revenge for the Islamic group’s takeover of the Gaza Strip, while Hamas forces blew up the home of a prominent Fatah family and deployed at strategic locations to solidify their control of Gaza.

Israeli security forces arrested a pregnant Palestinian mother of eight and her niece, also a mother, as they worked to carry out a pair of suicide bombings in Israel, the Shin Bet security agency said today.

Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli army base in southern Israel with mortar fire early today, wounding four soldiers, the army said.

Israel rounded up more than 30 Hamas leaders in the West Bank including a Cabinet minister, taking its conflict with Hamas over daily Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza to a new level.

Two Palestinians armed with an explosives belt attacked the Erez checkpoint between Israel and Gaza before daybreak today, and were killed in an ensuing shootout with Israeli troops.

Israel sealed its crossings with the Gaza Strip today after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed five people.

Israel today reopened its crossings with the Gaza Strip after closing them two days ago in a wave of violence, the army said.

Palestinians will not open their border with Egypt unilaterally, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said today, answering Israeli concerns and illustrating how much the poverty-stricken seaside territory remains dependent on its Jewish neighbour, despite Israel’s pullout.

ISRAEL'S army was to begin its operation to pull out of the Gaza Strip last night after the cabinet gave the final green light for the historic withdrawal from the territory after a 38-year occupation.

A BADLY burned Palestinian woman was alternately defiant and tearful last night after Israeli soldiers caught her trying to enter Israel with 22 pounds of explosives hidden on her body.

The West Bank town of Jericho and surrounding areas will be transferred to the control of Palestinians within the next few days – possibly as early as this evening – to be followed by the town of Tulkarem, a senior Israeli Defence Ministry official said today.

ISRAEL handed over the remains of 15 militants shot dead during attempted attacks in the Gaza Strip as part of a series of goodwill gestures towards the Palestinians.

The Israeli military was delivering the bodies of 15 militants to the Palestinians for burial today, a day after Israel’s cabinet approved the names of 500 prisoners to be released and security commanders prepared for the handover of a West Bank town to Palestinian control.

Israel’s army chief has ordered troops to halt operations in the Gaza Strip and to scale them back in the West Bank.

Israel has stopped targeting Palestinian militants for death, security officials said early today.

Israel may build a rail link between Gaza and the West Bank after withdrawing from the Gaza Strip this summer, officials said today.

Israel was giving Mahmoud Abbas one last chance to enforce a ceasefire tonight and decided to resume security talks with the Palestinians – holding off a major military offensive.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cut all contact with the newly elected Palestinian leader today, promising the silence would continue until Mahmoud Abbas moves to halt militant attacks.

Gunfire erupted at an Israel-Gaza checkpoint where Palestinians were about to cross at the beginning of an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca today.

Six Palestinians were killed and eight wounded in the northern Gaza Strip today by what Palestinian hospital officials said was Israeli tank fire.

Israel was releasing 159 Palestinian prisoners today, as a gesture to the new Palestinian leadership and as part of a swap with Egypt.

Israeli helicopters attacked a Hamas training field in Gaza City, killing at least 13 militants and wounding 25 other Palestinians, witnesses said, in the bloodiest incident there in four months.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon presented the most detailed timetable yet for a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to his Likud Party today, and warned party rebels that the plan “will be implemented, period”.

Palestinians today handed over to Israel body parts of soldiers killed in an explosion that destroyed an armoured personnel carrier in Gaza City, Palestinian officials said.

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.

A Palestinian suicide bomber exploded at an industrial zone between Israel and Gaza on Saturday afternoon, the army said.

Hamas belatedly claimed responsibility today for a suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv bar a year ago and released a farewell video of two British Muslims it had recruited for the attack.

PALESTINIANS vowed to strike at the heart of Israel yesterday as some 10,000 mourners gathered at the funerals in central Gaza for the victims of a massive Israeli army operation.

At least nine Palestinians were killed when fighting erupted as Israeli troops raided two Gaza refugee camps early today.

Two people were killed as a car was destroyed in a thunderous explosion in the Gaza Strip today, witnesses said.

Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire near the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza early today, killing at least one Israeli before being shot dead.

An Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile that blew apart a car carrying members of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza City today, killing a bodyguard of the militantgroup’s leader and a 12-year-old boy, witnesses and doctors said.

An 11-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and two youths wounded near Gaza’s border fence – the violent end to what one youth’s family said was an innocent bird hunt, but appeared to Israeli soldiers like an infiltration attempt.