JERUSALEM — A few weeks ago, Defense Minister Ehud Barak was considered a dead man walking in Israeli politics. Members of his Labor Party were plotting to replace him after elections on Feb. 10, if not before. Under his leadership, the storied party of David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir had sunk so low in the polls that there was serious talk it might disappear.
No one is talking like that now. Twelve days into a punishing war that he is leading against Hamas in Gaza, Labor’s poll numbers are spiking. Mr. …

JERUSALEM — Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza threatened to broaden on Thursday as at least three rockets were fired into the north of Israel from Lebanon.
The rockets, presumably launched in support of Hamas, could presage the opening of a second front. The Israeli Army, in a brief statement, said it “responded with fire against the source of the rockets,” which landed near the town of Nahariya. Two Israelis were slightly wounded, the police said.

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 …

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka (AP) — Battle tanks rumbled north, attack helicopters flew overheard and artillery fire roared through the jungles as Sri Lankan forces pushed ahead Sunday with an offensive aimed at capturing the Tamil Tigers’ last strongholds and crushing the rebel group.
A rebel-affiliated Web site reported that the insurgents stalled a military advance on the road to its northeastern stronghold of Mullaittivu killing 43 soldiers and wounding 80 others Sunday, two days after the military seized the rebels’ administrative capital of Kilinochchi.

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 …

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 …

GAZA CITY (CNN) — Thousands of Israeli troops pushed into Gaza, essentially splitting north from south by Sunday, the second day of the ground incursion.
The troops, backed by tanks, artillery and helicopters, gained control of parts of northern Gaza on Sunday, according to Palestinian security sources.
The ground push has resulted in mounting casualties on both sides, as Israel continues the air assault it started on December 27. More than 500 Palestinians were killed over the past week, according to Palestinian medical sources.

Heavy fighting is reported in Gaza between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters after Israel launched its ground offensive on the territory.
Thousands of Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip overnight with tanks and helicopters, accompanied by naval support and air strikes.
While the UN secretary general called for an immediate end to the operations, the Security Council failed to agree on a resolution calling for a ceasefire after an emergency meeting.
In the Gaza Strip, heavy artillery, tracer fire and rockets could be heard while reports said Israeli troops had reached the northern …

Angry protests against Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip have continued throughout the world, with two of the largest demonstrations taking place in London and in Sakhnin in northern Israel.
Other large demonstrations were staged in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, Lebanon, Turkey and the West Bank.
Protesters in Kabul pumped their fists into the air and shouted slogans against Israel and the United States, while in Srinagar activists burned an effigy of Ehud Olmert, Israel’s outgoing prime minister.
In Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestinians seeking national …

At least 11 Palestinians, including one child, have been killed after Israeli forces struck a mosque during prayers in the town of Beit Lahiya, north of Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip.
More than 200 people were inside the the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque praying when it was struck.
It is not clear yet whether the mosque was hit as part of the Israeli army’s shelling, which started on Saturday afternoon.