Palestinian and Israeli officials yesterday gave widely different reactions to US President George W. Bush’s call Monday for an international peace conference to address the conflict, while analysts remained distinctly underwhelmed.

About 100 Palestinians smashed doors and windows inside an airport building in this Egypt-Gaza Strip border town early Tuesday after being trapped there for more than a month since the border’s closure, police and one of the rioters said.

Egyptian officials have found torture gear including a whip, clubs and a barbed wire-studded stick at a police station in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, a security source said on Tuesday.