Gaza, Hamas | featured news

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.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees suspends relief imports into Gaza accusing the Hamas government of stealing food aid.

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.

The Islamist Hamas group is calling for new leadership for Palestinians to replace the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) dominated by its arch-rival President Mahmoud Abbas and the factions loyal to him.

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.

Egypt aired its grievances against Iran, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, saying they worked together in the fighting over Gaza to provoke conflict in the Middle East.

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.