Israel’s prime minister denied media reports that it is negotiating with the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, but said there will be Israeli “consultations” Sunday “regarding the situation in the south.”
“Should a decision of any kind be required, it will be made only via a meeting of the Security Cabinet and after taking into account all of the new political circumstances that have been created in the wake of the recent Israeli elections,” Yanki Galanti, the media adviser for Ehud Olmert, said Saturday night in a statement.

Hamas officials said Friday that an announcement of an 18-month cease-fire with Israel was days away and would include a substantial opening of Gaza’s borders with Israel in exchange for an end to Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli southern communities. But a senior Israeli official said nothing had been agreed on yet.
Meanwhile, rockets were fired into Israel on Friday, causing no damage or injuries, and Israeli warplanes struck the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, wounding two Popular Resistance Committee fighters.

The Arab League has condemned Israel’s seizure of a ship carrying humanitarian aid from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip.
The league’s envoy to the United Nations, Yahya Mahmassani called the interception an act of piracy and asked U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to intervene.
Crew members and journalists aboard the Lebanese ship say Israel’s military fired in the ship’s direction before Israeli forces boarded the vessel. The Israeli military denied it fired on the ship.
Israeli officials said the Lebanese ship was escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod, and that any aid …

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Now that there is a cease-fire in place, Israelis are asking whether the 22-day war against Hamas in Gaza achieved its aims.
The government argues that overwhelming victory in the field will advance what was Operation Cast Lead’s primary goal: bringing a long period of quiet to civilians in southern Israel, freeing them from the tyranny of cross-border rocket attacks from Gaza.

For the first time in three weeks a fragile peace prevailed in the shattered Gaza Strip yesterday, after Hamas responded to Israel’s unilateral ceasefire by announcing a week-long truce of its own.
The Palestinian group fired at least 15 rockets and mortars into southern Israel to show that it had not been crushed. It then gave Israel seven days to withdraw its forces and open Gaza’s border crossings to allow in desperately needed humanitarian aid.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel said it was approaching the “endgame” of its three-week offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers and scheduled a Security Cabinet vote Saturday on a truce proposed by Egypt. Under the cease-fire plan, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days, but Israeli forces would initially remain in Gaza and the border crossings into the territory would remain closed until security arrangements are made to ensure Hamas militants do not rearm.
If Israel agrees to stop shooting, Israel radio said a truce summit would be held in Cairo …

AMMAN (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm on Wednesday over reports of Lebanese rocket attacks against Israel and urged all parties in the region to avoid actions that could make a bad situation worse.
“That is … a very alarming, very disturbing and troubling situation,” Ban told reporters in the Jordanian capital on the first day of a week-long tour of the Middle East.
Ban said that U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, were investigating the rocket attacks launched from inside Lebanon. The incident took place on the 19th …

Hamas officials say they have given Egyptian mediators their views on a Gaza cease-fire plan with Israel, and are waiting for Israel’s response.
Palestinian medics Wednesday said more than 1,000 people in Gaza have been killed in the 19-day conflict.
The head of the U.N.’s children’s agency, UNICEF, says 300 children are among the dead.
Thirteen Israelis have died in the conflict, which Israel launched to stop Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Rockets fired from Lebanon struck Israel on Wednesday for the second time in a week while its Gaza offensive ground on, but there was no immediate sign the incident would escalate into wider violence.
There was no initial claim of responsibility for the attack, which triggered warning sirens in parts of northern Israel, and police said no one was hurt.
On Thursday, a similar salvo hit northern Israel but Lebanese and Israeli officials were quick to play down that incident, blaming not the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement, an ally of Gaza’s Hamas, but …

Thousands of demonstrators poured onto the streets of major European cities on Sunday to protest for a second day against Israel’s assault on Gaza, but there was no repeat of Saturday’s widespread violent clashes with police.
Around 30,000 people demonstrated in Brussels, some carrying models of bloodied Gaza children, while more than 1,000 formed a human chain to march through Rome as Italy’s defence minister warned Muslims against provocative prayers in public squares.