HAMAS officials said yesterday an agreement with Israel on a long-term ceasefire in Gaza could be announced within days, but a new cycle of attacks by both sides strained a temporary truce.

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.

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".

Israeli warplanes pressing one of Israel’s deadliest assaults ever on Palestinian militants widened their sights today, dropping bombs on smuggling tunnels that are a major weapons pipeline for the Gaza Strip’s Islamic Hamas rulers.

Thousands of Gaza civilians trapped in their territory by a tight Israeli blockade poured into Egypt today to buy food, fuel and other scarce supplies after masked Palestinian gunmen blasted the border wall.

Two Palestinian militants were killed when the Israeli army pushed into southern Gaza before dawn today, the army and Palestinians reported.

Israeli aircraft struck three times in southern Gaza, killing five militants, after a day of internal Palestinian unrest with public service workers and security forces clamouring to be paid.

Israeli forces have arrested the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, a Hamas leader, at his house, alongside a day of Israeli military operations in the southern Gaza Strip – parts of a month-long offensive against the militant Islamic group.

Israeli troops raided southern Gaza early today, killing at least six Palestinians – four of them militants.

FROM Japan to the Atlantic, world leaders praised and worried about Ariel Sharon yesterday - a remarkable outpouring for a man not long ago seen as a threat to the Middle East.

Palestinian police and gunmen shot in the air near the Gaza-Egypt border crossing today, security officials said, but denied initial reports of a firefight.

Palestinian police today threatened to use force to win the release of three British hostages snatched earlier this week by gunmen in Gaza.

Palestinian security officials say European observers have fled the Gaza-Egypt border crossing point after Palestinian policemen stormed the compound.

The Gaza-Egypt border opened with a festive ribbon-cutting today – a milestone for the Palestinians who for the first time took control of a border crossing without Israeli veto powers and gained some freedom of movement.

With a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Gaza-Egypt border was reopening today – a milestone for the Palestinians who for the first time take control of a border crossing without Israeli veto powers and gain some freedom of movement.

A European Union official today said that the initial 20-person delegation of EU monitors for the Gaza-Egypt border crossing would be at their posts and operating for tomorrow’s historic opening.

The European Union today agreed to monitor a Gaza-Egypt border crossing that serves as the main gate to the world for Palestinians in the coastal strip as an EU delegation toured the area.

Palestinian police are incapable of controlling armed militants, and al-Qaida is posed to infiltrate the Gaza Strip and Israel, Israel’s domestic security chief warned today, reflecting deep Israeli concerns over threats that could result from chaos in Gaza following its handover to the Palestinian Authority.

The European Union announced details of new aid for the Palestinians, raising the 2005 total to €280m today – a day before talks between the four parties that drive the Mideast peace process.

A senior Israeli defence official today challenged the Palestinian Authority to close the open border between Gaza and Egypt, saying its credibility was on the line over its failure to stop the flow of gunrunners and others across the frontier.

JOYOUS Gazans flooded into empty Jewish settlements yesterday and Palestinians clambered over walls to the Egyptian side to join a chaotic celebration of the end of 38 years of Israeli military rule over the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of triumphant Palestinians poured into abandoned Jewish settlements early today, setting buildings on fire, ripping out window frames and shooting in the air.

Israel is to close the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt until further notice, officials said today, after proposing new arrangements that could include movement of Palestinians in and out of Gaza under the supervision of foreign inspectors without an Israeli presence.

Israel will insist on moving the Gaza-Egypt border crossing to a new location after Israel’s pullout from Gaza so Israeli inspectors can continue to check goods and people, Israel’s Security Cabinet was told today, and the emerging position appears to rule out the deployment of foreign inspectors at Gaza crossings.

The Palestinians’ ruling Fatah Party appeared to be bouncing back from corruption and inefficiency charges to show strength in local elections that could provide momentum toward a summer parliamentary election showdown with Hamas.

The Israeli army today acquitted an officer on charges he illegally used his weapon in the shooting death of a British filmmaker, despite a military court recommendation that harsh disciplinary action be taken against the soldier.

Israel agreed in principle yesterday to evacuate a road along the Gaza-Egypt border that has been a major flashpoint of violence in recent years, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said after a Palestinian official warned that continued Israeli military patrols there would invite attacks.

ISRAEL will withdraw its troops from Palestinian towns for 72 hours during next month’s Palestinian presidential election, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday, signalling that a deadly weekend attack on an Israel army post was not derailing fledgling peace efforts.

A tunnel filled with explosives detonated under the Israeli checkpoint on the Gaza-Egypt border near the town of Rafah today, the Israeli military said.

ISRAELI forces yesterday set up roadblocks on main roads in Gaza, cutting the crowded seaside territory into three parts, after militants fired rockets at a nearby Israeli town, the military said.

Militants attacking an Israeli armoured bulldozer inadvertently killed three other Palestinians today.

An explosion today in a Gaza Strip area where the Israeli army is operating killed at least three people and wounded 10 others, Palestinian witnesses said.

A car bomb exploded near an Israeli convoy on the Gaza-Egypt border today, killing the bomber and slightly wounding two soldiers, the army said.

Israeli troops withdrew from a besieged Palestinian neighbourhood in Rafah refugee camp early today, leaving behind dozens of demolished homes, acres of levelled agricultural land and residents despairing over how the destruction will be repaired.

Israeli troops killed five Palestinian militants early today, hours after the army pledged to forge ahead with an offensive despite harsh international criticism of a deadly attack on a Palestinian demonstration.

ISRAEL will step up military operations in the Gaza Strip, including a more intensive air campaign and the possible demolition of hundreds of Palestinian homes, Israeli officials said yesterday.

Israel’s Supreme Court today rejected a petition calling for the army to stop demolishing Palestinian homes along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Israel was bracing itself today for suicide and other revenge attacks by Palestinian militants after the bloodiest day of fighting in the Gaza Strip in 16 months.

At least 14 Palestinians were killed in gun battles with Israeli troops in one of the bloodiest days in Gaza in months.

AN Israeli raid on a Gaza refugee camp killed eight Palestinians yesterday in the worst violence in the Gaza Strip in two months — just hours after a high-level Egyptian peace mission to Israel.

Three Palestinians were killed and 20 other people wounded by Israeli gunfire when tanks and armoured vehicles entered the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border today, hospital officials said.

At least three Palestinians were killed and 12 wounded in violent clashes when Israeli troops went into a Gaza refugee camp on the Egyptian border early today.

Israel’s three-day military operation in a Gaza Strip refugee camp left 1,240 Palestinians homeless, the largest demolition of houses in a Gaza raid in three years of fighting, UN officials said.