Israel pressed ahead with its incursion into the southern Gaza Strip today as airstrikes killed five Palestinians, including a mother and her two children, and tanks rolled to the edge of Rafah, officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that for the first time in nearly two years of fighting, he sees the possibility of a negotiated deal with the Palestinians.

ISRAEL yesterday expelled two Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip — an unprecedented step hailed

Israel today expelled two Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip - an unprecedented step hailed by the military as a powerful deterrent against suicide bombings and condemned by human rights groups as a violation of international law.