UN chief Ban Ki-moon visited the Gaza Strip today to inspect the devastation wrought by Israel’s three-week onslaught.

Israeli troops battled Palestinian gunmen in a suburb of Gaza City today in one of the fiercest ground battles so far as Israel’s military inched toward Gaza’s population centres and residents braced for an expansion of the offensive.

FOR Palestinians hunkered down under Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip, among the most powerful symbols of the conflict are the homemade rockets militants have fired at Israel, and which Israel says it is now determined to stop.

International pressure was mounting on Israel and the Palestinians today, but the violence showed no sign of abating as the death toll from the bombing blitz rose towards the 300 mark.

Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from Gaza pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of air strikes today, killing at least 155 and wounding more than 310 in the bloodiest day in Gaza in decades.

Gaza militants launched barrages of rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel, rescue services said today.

HAMAS released 17 jailed members of the rival Fatah faction yesterday, describing the men for the first time as political prisoners and saying it set them free as a goodwill gesture before Palestinian unity talks.

The world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said today.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair called off a ground-breaking visit to Gaza today in his role as Middle East envoy after a specific warning of an assassination plot.

Hamas fired rockets at southern Israel today, hitting a house and a Jewish seminary just hours after five Hamas policemen were killed in Israeli air strikes.

Hamas militants drove two booby-trapped military vehicles into an Israeli border crossing with Gaza under the cover of morning fog today, detonating one and wounding 13 soldiers in one of Hamas’ most ambitious attempts to target Israelis since Israel’s pullout from Gaza in 2005.

THE militant Islamic Jihad group in Gaza fired more than a dozen rockets at southern Israel early yesterday after Israeli undercover forces killed one of its West Bank leaders.

The fragile and brief peace between Israel and militant Palestinians was shattered today in a blast of rocket and air attacks.

Israel threatened Gaza with new ground attacks today as a US-led initiative failed to get Palestinian peace talks restarted.

Israel launched yet another airstrike on Gaza today even as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the region to try to rescue peace talks from the latest outbreak of violence.

Gaza was faced with the threat on a full-scale Israeli invasion tonight after a barrage of Palestinian rocket attacks hit border towns.

Six Palestinian militants, including the son of a hardline Hamas leader, were killed in an Israeli air strike today.

A series of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed four Hamas militants early today, raising the Palestinian death toll in the past day to 15, including a baby.

An Israeli student was killed by a Palestinian rocket which landed on a college campus outside Gaza today.

Only a few thousand Palestinians braved a rainy day to demonstrate against Israel's blockade of their territory today, a far smaller turnout than expected.

Deflecting rising anger over constant rocket attacks after a boy lost a leg, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today ruled out a broad military operation in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli child, 8, was seriously wounded today when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel, police and medics said. One other person was lightly injured, they said.

Israeli troops killed six Hamas gunmen and a teacher in the northern Gaza Strip today in escalating violence that is hampering peace efforts.

Israeli aircraft struck today against Gaza militants who have bombarded border communities with rockets.

ISRAELI attacks killed eight Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip yesterday and the Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Israel.

A barrage of rockets battered an Israeli town less than half a mile from the Gaza fence today – seriously wounding a woman – just before the arrival of President Shimon Peres.

Israel has temporarily shut its crossings with Gaza in a bid to put an end to a surge in rocket attacks.

The search for Middle East peace has reached an “historic moment” an optimistic US president George Bush declared today.

Israel is planning to cut off Gaza electricity in a bid to deter Palestinians from firing rockets from the Gaza Strip, defence officials said yesterday.

A Palestinian rocket exploded in an Israeli army base early today, wounding 50 soldiers and drawing Israeli calls for a major military operation against rocket squads in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops backed by tanks and bulldozers crossed into southern Gaza to strike at Palestinian militants today, a day after Israel’s defence minister said a broad operation inside the territory was inevitable.

Prime minister Ehud Olmert convened his top ministers today to discuss Israel’s response to the latest wave of Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian rocket exploded this morning next to a day-care centre crowded with toddlers in southern Israel, sparking anger and panic in the frequently targeted town of Sderot and bringing warnings of retribution from Israeli leaders.

Israeli soldiers scrambled to evacuate babies from a day care centre in rocket-scarred Sderot today after a projectile fired by Palestinian militants thudded into the courtyard.

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired three rockets into southern Israel today, disrupting the first day of school in the frequently targeted border town of Sderot.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas lashed out at the Islamic militants of Hamas, accusing them of trying to build an “empire of darkness” in the Gaza Strip and pledging he would not negotiate with the “murderous terrorists”.

Israeli aircraft attacked Palestinian rocket launchers in the Gaza Strip today, the army said, as Israel persisted in its two-week operation meant to stop the crude projectiles.

Israel’s army received approval today to broaden its ground operations against Gaza Strip militants who have been barraging Israeli border towns with deadly rocket fire, but no large-scale incursion is in the works, military officials said.

Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he authorised the army to do whatever it takes to halt Palestinian rocket fire, but warned his Cabinet there was no quick solution.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today vowed to continue Israel’s crackdown against Hamas, warning “no one is immune”.

Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas made a new push today to restore a cease-fire with Israel that collapsed under a barrage of Hamas rocket fire.

Hamas militants defied Israeli air strikes and threats to kill their top leaders, firing more rockets into Israel, as the Palestinian president arrived in Gaza in an effort to defuse the escalating conflict.

Israel's deputy defence minister today threatened to target Hamas' political leaders, calling them "terrorists in suits" after a Hamas rocket attack killed an Israeli woman.

Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated dangerously when Israel killed five militants in airstrikes and hinted Hamas political leaders could be their next target.