An Israeli air strike in Gaza killed the wife and infant son of Hamas’s military leader, Mohammed Deif, the group said, calling it an attempt to assassinate him after a ceasefire collapsed.

In a direct message to Hamas’ interior minister in Gaza, Israeli jet fighters destroyed his office early today, intensifying an air invasion while delaying a broad ground offensive to give Arab mediators a last chance to gain the release of a kidnapped soldier.

PALESTINIAN leaders were yesterday locked in a power struggle triggered by Yasser Arafat's attempt to hand control over all the security forces to a loyalist in the apparent hope of sidelining the US-backed Palestinian security chief, officials said.