ELDER statesman Shimon Peres looks set to leave Israel’s Labour Party, his political home for 60 years, and join Ariel Sharon’s government if the prime minister is re-elected in March.

Shimon Peres has decided to leave the Israeli Labour Party and join Ariel Sharon’s next government, a senior Sharon adviser said today.

Israel will ask the US for supplemental aid to help pay for its planned pullout from the Gaza Strip, Vice-Premier Shimon Peres said in Jerusalem today.

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was indicted today for violating the terms of his release from prison, the Israeli Justice Ministry announced.

Thousands of red locusts swarmed into southern Israel today, threatening the region’s agriculture with a biblical-like plague.

Israeli troops killed five Palestinian militants today, including two Hamas gunmen who slipped across the fenced boundary with Gaza for a rare cross-border attack.

MORDECHAI VANUNU was released on Wednesday after serving almost 18 years in jail for telling the truth about Israel's surreptitious efforts to develop nuclear weapons in 1986.

ARIEL SHARON’S future as Israeli leader was in grave doubt last night as he faced possible charges following the indictment of a property developer on charges of bribing the prime minister.

Israel was today considering its response to the suicide bombing that killed two people - the second such attack in two weeks.