Rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah have reached a preliminary, partial agreement that could pave the way for President Mahmoud Abbas to resume governing the Gaza Strip a decade after Hamas overran the territory, officials said.

Islamic State militants have ambushed a police convoy in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing 18 police and wounding seven others.

ENGLAND: The owner of a top-rated bistro smelled a rat when a customer pulled a rodent from his pocket and shouted out in alarm in an attempt to get a free meal.

Israeli airstrikes have levelled a seven-floor office building and severely damaged a two-storey commercial building with dozens of shops, Gaza police say.

An Israeli air strike killed three senior Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, a clear sign of its intention to hit the group’s armed leadership days after a ceasefire failed.

Medical officials in Gaza City say an Israeli air strike has killed four people who were attending a funeral.

Islamic militant group Hamas said three of its senior military leaders have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian police say at least six people were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a densely populated neighbourhood in the Gaza Strip.

The European Union has offered to take charge of Gaza’s border crossings and work to prevent illegal arms flows, insisting on a durable truce and saying a return to the status quo before the latest war “is not an option”.

Germany, France and Britain have proposed reactivating a European Union mission on the Egypt-Gaza border to help stabilise the Palestinian enclave after a month-long war, a German diplomatic source said.

Israel said it withdrew the last of its ground forces from Gaza today as it and Hamas began a temporary ceasefire.

Israel has resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip, ending a self-declared, seven-hour ceasefire that was in effect for much of the day.

An Israeli air strike killed a militant leader in the Gaza Strip today, just hours ahead of a seven-hour truce announced by Israel which was meant to open a “humanitarian window” for aid.

Israel withdrew most of its ground troops from the Gaza Strip yesterday in an apparent winding-down of the nearly month-long operation against Hamas that has left more than 1,800 Palestinians and 60 Israelis dead.

Ten people have been killed by a strike near a United Nations school in the embattled coastal territory, a Gaza health official said.

An Israeli soldier feared by the the military to have been abducted by Palestinian gunmen in a firefight that shattered Gaza’s temporary ceasefire has been declared dead.

Israeli forces, backed by heavy tank fire and air strikes, have moved deeper into southern Gaza in search of a soldier apparently captured in a clash with Hamas militants earlier in the day.

Israeli forces, backed by heavy tank fire and air strikes, have moved deeper into southern Gaza in search of a soldier apparently captured in a clash with Hamas militants earlier in the day.

At least 35 Palestinians have been killed by shelling in Gaza and the Israeli military says one of its soldiers may have been abducted.

At least four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli tank fire nearly two hours after Israel and Hamas began observing a three-day ceasefire, Gaza officials have said.

At least 100 Palestinians have been killed in fighting in Gaza today, according to a health official, as Israel escalated its military offensive in the coastal strip.

The overall Palestinian death toll passed 560 as high-level attempts to end Israel-Hamas fighting hit serious problems.

The UN chief and the US secretary of state are heading to Cairo to try to end two weeks of Israel-Hamas fighting in Gaza which has killed at least 500 Palestinians and 20 Israelis and displaced tens of thousands of people.

A rocket fired from Gaza has landed in Israel just as a five-hour ceasefire expired, the Israeli military says.

Three mortar shells have been fired from Gaza into Israel after a humanitarian ceasefire came into effect, according to the Israeli military.

A suicide bomber has rammed his explosive-laden car into one of two buses carrying off-duty soldiers in Egypt’s turbulent region of northern Sinai, killing 10 and wounding 35.

Egypt’s army-backed authorities detained the Muslim Brotherhood’s leader yesterday, signalling their determination to crush the group and silence protests against the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The supreme leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has been arrested, dealing a serious blow to the group as it tries to maintain street protests over the removal of president Mohammed Morsi.

Egyptian troops have opened fire on protesters marching in support of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, killing at least one and wounding several more.

Egyptian troops have opened fire on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi as they marched on a Republican Guard facility.