Israeli mortar rounds blasted a United Nations-run school that had been converted into a refugee shelter for hundreds of Palestinians displaced by the ten-day war in Gaza, killing more than 40 people today.
It was one of three UN schools hit by Israeli ordnance today. The strike against the Fakhora school in the northern town of Jabaliya was the deadliest single attack of an already blood-soaked offensive.
Israeli army officials said that their forces had been targeted by Hamas mortar fire from within the school compound. They named two alleged Hamas …

The conflict between Israel and Hamas can be resolved, former UK prime minister Tony Blair has insisted.
Mr Blair, now a Middle East envoy, said there was a “basis” for an immediate ceasefire if the supply of arms into Gaza from Egypt was halted.
But Mr Blair warned of a “more protracted campaign” if firm action was not taken and said the people of Gaza were living through “hell”.

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is making an immediate donation of US$1 million (RM3.5 million) as humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the money had been channelled through non-profit medical relief organisation Mercy Malaysia to deliver relief supplies to the Palestinian victims.
The Foreign Ministry, he said, had reopened its Fund for Palestine to receive and coordinate the collection of assistance from Malaysians.

GENEVA (AFP) — People wounded in fighting in the Gaza Strip are dying because ambulances cannot reach them, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday.
“The situation is extremely dangerous and the coordination of ambulance services is very complex because of the incessant attacks and military operations,” ICRC spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas said in Geneva.
“Wounded people have died while waiting for Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances,” she added.
“In some other cases, ambulances cannot reach the wounded at all because of the ongoing fighting and shelling.”

The Syrian cabinet decided on Monday to launch a public donation campaign to support the people of Gaza, the official SANA news agency reported.
In a weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Ottri, the ministers vowed to bolster their country’s support campaigns and aid convoys to Gaza, which already amounted to 280 tons of aid in various kind.
They also underlined the efforts led by President Bashar al-Assad to end the Israeli aggression on Gaza, break the siege, and open crossing points to deliver food, medicine, medical supplies and …

For the first time since the start of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, U.S. President George Bush has gone before television cameras to talk about the Mideast crisis.
The president stayed quiet during the first week of the Israeli military operation.
He was on a holiday break at his Texas ranch, and let his spokesman speak on his behalf.
His voice was first heard addressing the situation in Gaza last Friday in his weekly radio address. On Monday, he went a step further – making brief comments to reporters called into …

Israel continued to tighten its grip on the Gaza Strip today, as world leaders pushed for an end to the fighting that entered its 10th day.
After effectively bisecting the Gaza Strip over the weekend, the Israeli military announced that it had seized high-rise buildings and attacked tunnels at the edge of Gaza City. Further advances by the Israeli military would bring it into the heart of the Gaza’s major city.
Diplomatic efforts continued, but showed no tangible results as Israel insisted that it was justified in continuing its invasion until …

Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships surrounded Gaza’s largest city and fought militants at close range on the first full day of a ground offensive.
Israeli soldiers are fighting mainly in open areas in the launching zones used by Gaza’s militants to fire rockets into Israel.
A health ministry official says 64 Palestinian civilians have been killed since the ground assault began. The new deaths brought the death toll in the Gaza Strip to more than 512 since Dec. 27th.

JERUSALEM (CNN) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet Sunday he had “no alternative” but to order a ground incursion in Gaza to end Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel.
The Israeli army’s objectives were to “strike at the military infrastructure that Hamas has established and to take control of the areas from which most of the missiles have been fired” at Israeli territory, Olmert said.
Hamas has vowed to “fight until the last breath,” warning Israel that “Gaza will be your cemetery” as Israeli ground forces entered the …

Israel did not seek approval from Washington before waging a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip ruled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday.
“They didn’t seek clearance or approval from us, certainly,” the vice president said on CBS’ Face The Nation on Sunday, his first public remark on Israel’s military strikes targeted Hamas.
Israel’s ground troops, backed by gunships and tanks, on Saturday night launched an invasion into the Gaza Strip. Reports here quoted Palestinian security sources as saying that the troops have …