Palestina News

Israel killed 33 Palestinians on Saturday in one of its deepest and deadliest incursions into the Gaza Strip since pulling out in 2005, stoking fears of a broader conflict that could derail renewed U.S.-backed peace talks.

GAZA – Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians during clashes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, said hospital staff, keeping up pressure on the Hamas-ruled territory after a cross-border rocket attack killed an Israeli civilian.

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip – Thousands of Palestinians formed a human chain in the Gaza Strip on Monday in a protest against an Israeli blockade that has deepened hardship in the Hamas-controlled territory.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opened an investigation into the death of a Hamas preacher who the Islamist group said was tortured by Fatah security services, officials said on Saturday.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has not agreed to postpone talks on the future of Jerusalem, a senior adviser said on Monday, disputing comments by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

JERUSALEM – French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday that Israel and the Palestinians have made no real progress since a U.S.-sponsored peace conference in November, and called the situation dangerous.

ISMAILIA, Egypt  – A locally made Palestinian rocket exploded on the Egyptian side of the crossing point with Gaza on Sunday, damaging an Egyptian administrative building, security sources said. There were no injuries.

GAZA – Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, has voiced confidence that Egypt will help it ease the effects of an Israeli blockade.

GAZA – Israeli forces killed three Palestinian militants and a civilian during fighting in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Sunday, medical workers said.

GAZA – Hamas Islamists on Wednesday called for the Arab world to unite against Israel after Hezbollah accused the Jewish state of assassinating one of its founders.