Israeli-palestinian Dispute, Hamas | featured news

Israel has rejected a demand for the release of two Hamas commanders as part of any exchange for a captured Israeli soldier, a source close to negotiations said Wednesday, signaling talks had hit a snag.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas faced growing outrage at home Sunday over his decision to withdraw support for a U.N. report that alleged Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in last winter's Gaza war.

Israel rules out a truce in Gaza unless an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants is freed, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says.

Hamas officials said Friday that an announcement of an 18-month cease-fire with Israel was days away. An Israeli official said nothing had been agreed yet.

As Israel prepared to launch its assault into Gaza in late December, it braced for substantial casualties among its own troops. Commanders warned their men of Hamas' suicide commandos, missiles that could smash tanks and knock helicopters out of the sky, and long-range rockets that could reach deeper into Israel.

Palestinian militants fired mortar shells from southern Gaza at Israel and Israel carried out an air strike against what the military said were members of the launching squad.

Senior officials in the Islamic group Hamas are indicating a willingness to negotiate a deal for a long-term truce with Israel as long as the borders of Gaza are opened to the rest of the world.

The Israeli military said that Palestinians detonated an explosive device near troops patrolling on the Israeli side of the Gaza border in the first incident since the cease-fire.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel will protect from prosecution any of its soldiers accused of war crimes in Gaza.

Israel all but ruled out on Friday a full reopening of border crossings with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip any time soon, leaving a shaky ceasefire and post-war reconstruction in doubt.