Israeli forces pulled out of the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun before daybreak today, completing a weeklong sweep that killed more than 50 Palestinians.

An Israeli airstrike today killed two Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip and a Palestinian man fatally stabbed an Israeli soldier in the West Bank, intensifying a new round of violence in the wake of a suicide bombing at an Israeli shopping centre this week.

A Hamas militant killed by Israeli army fire today was responsible for a rocket attack which killed two Israeli children last week, according to the Israeli army.

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.

The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers were meeting today in a new climate of hope after a Palestinian terror truce, removal of Israeli tanks and roadblocks in Gaza and a deal to give the Palestinians security control over the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Israeli troops raided a Gaza Strip town and a refugee camp today, killing a gunman and an apparent bystander and destroying several alleged weapon workshops.