GAZA – Israeli forces killed six Palestinians on Wednesday, including three members of a Gaza family in a botched air strike, a day after Palestinians said some of the worst violence in months could harm peace moves.

GAZA – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called a leader of rival Hamas on Wednesday to commiserate on the killing of his son by Israeli forces, Hamas said, the first such contact since a Palestinian factional schism last year.

BAGHDAD – The United Nations envoy to Baghdad said on Wednesday he would present a positive picture of progress in Iraq in a report to the Security Council despite earlier having serious misgivings about reconciliation efforts.