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Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel is in an ''all-out war against Hamas.'' He added: ''We have nothing against Gaza residents, but we are engaged in an all-out war against Hamas and its proxies. ''This operation will expand and deepen as much as needed. We went to war to deal a heavy blow to Hamas. Barak recalled a conversation with Barack Obama during the US President-elect's June visit to Sderot city, which is regularly targeted by Gaza militants. He quoted Obama as saying, ''had anyone fired rockets against my home while my two daughters were sleeping I would have done...

Mohamed al-Ashi, 28, was in a shock as he stood at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital's emergency room watching several relatives and police officers carrying the body of his brother, who died in the first Israeli airstrike carried out on Saturday at the main Hamas police headquarters. "I pray to Allah (God) to give us patience and strength, may God bless his spirit. We lost the best man in the family," said Mohamed, as he looked sad but kept his tears from flowing, while others shouted Allah Akbar (God is great). Faris el-Ashi, a 33-year-old explosive expert and an officer in...

(IsraelNN.com) President Shimon Peres said in a statement released to the media Sunday that it is time for the world to understand that Israel has been more than patient in waiting for the people of Gaza to come to their senses. Detailing all the agony and subsequent fallout of the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, Peres said, "The story is simple. Israel has left Gaza completely… The passages were open. Money was sent to Gaza. We suggested aid in many ways – economically, medically and otherwise… Still I have not heard until now a single person who could explain to us...

Hundreds of people lined the busiest intersection near the Galleria on Sunday, chanting and waving Palestinian flags to protest the Israeli bombing in Gaza. "People are very upset, obviously. They are angry," said Said Fattouh, host of the radio talk show Arab Voices. "Nobody knows when it will stop." The protest grew spontaneously, with several Arab-American organizations spreading the word. People said they heard about it through e-mail, text messages and telephone calls and traveled to the intersection of Westheimer and Post Oak to participate. Members of the Houston Coalition for Justice Not War said they would hold a second...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Terrified prisoners fled a Gaza City jail bombed by Israeli warplanes on Sunday, their faces white with dust and red with blood as they stumbled over huge piles of rubble. Across the territory, grieving families pitched traditional mourning tents of green tarp outside the homes. Yet the rows of chairs inside these tents remained largely empty, as residents cowered indoors for fear of new Israeli strikes. Plumes of gray smoke rising into the sky marked the site of the latest Israeli attacks. Even for war-weary Gazans, who've lived through countless Israeli incursions, air attacks...

TEL AVIV | The threat of an Israeli invasion of the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip loomed Sunday, with the call up of 6,500 reservists during the second day of an air offensive that sparked global protests and the deepest penetration yet by Palestinian rockets into southern Israel. Israeli bombers targeted 40 smuggling tunnels linking the Gaza Strip to Egypt, while Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Egyptian border police in an attempt to flee the bombing. The death toll approached 300 and demonstrations erupted throughout the Muslim world. The Syrian government broke off indirect peace talks started earlier this year with Israel. A...

IAF planes targeted a guest palace used by the Hamas government and the house next to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's home in a refugee camp next to Gaza City early Monday morning. Haniyeh was not home, as Hamas leaders have gone into hiding. Israel Radio reported that 307 Palestinians have been killed the IDF 'Operation Cast Lead,' which began on Saturday.

Israel Shatters Key Hamas Targets Breaking News 11:37pm UK, Sunday December 28, 2008 Israeli warplanes have bombed a significant Hamas cultural symbol in a new wave of air strikes on Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have continued on Gaza for a second day Six airstrikes pummelled the Islamic University as Israel widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Hamas targets. Some 40 smuggling tunnels running under the border with Egypt have been attacked, destroying a network that is a lifeline to the outside world. Meanwhile more tanks and artillery have been sent towards the Gaza border, increasing the threat of a ground invasion....

Crawford, Texas (AP) -- The deaths of hundreds of Palestinians in Israel's deadliest-ever air assault on the militant Hamas further complicates President-elect Barack Obama's challenge to achieve a Middle East peace — something that eluded both the Bush and Clinton administrations. The Bush administration has blamed the renewed violence on the militant Islamic group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, saying it broke a cease-fire by firing rockets and mortars deep into Israeli territory. The Arab world, however, has reacted with rage to the aggressive Israeli counterattacks, which have left at least 290 Palestinians dead and more than 600 wounded....

EIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Crowds of thousands swept into the streets of cities around the Middle East on Sunday to denounce Israel's air assault on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. From Lebanon to Iran, Israel's adversaries used the weekend assault to marshal crowds into the streets for noisy demonstrations. And among regional allies there was also discontent: The prime minister of Turkey, one of the few Muslim countries to have relations with Israel, called the air assault a "crime against humanity." Several of Sunday's protests turned violent. A crowd of anti-Israel protesters in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul...

GAZA CITY - Israeli warplanes pressing one of Israel's deadliest assaults ever on Palestinian militants dropped bombs and missiles on a top security installation, smuggling tunnels and dozens of other targets across Hamas-ruled Gaza on Sunday. Israel called up 6,500 reserve soldiers and moved infantry and armoured units to the Gaza border for a possible ground invasion. Some 280 Palestinians died in the first 24 hours of the campaign against Gaza rocket squads.