The Latest from Israel-Palestine-Gaza (25 January)

Later Updates: The Latest from Israel-Palestine-Gaza (26 January)
Earlier Updates: The Latest from Israel-Palestine-Gaza (24 January)
Latest Post: How Israel Helped Spawn Hamas

11:15 p.m. Finally, Some White Smoke. After talks in Cairo today, Hamas official Ayman Taha said his organisation is offering a one-year cease-fire to Israel.

This is just an opening move, however. The Hamas delegation has to confirm the 12-month offer with the organisation's leadership in Damascus, and it is linked to a full opening of Gazan borders. Israel's offer of an 18-month cease-fire, presented by the Egyptians to Hamas, held out only a partial opening of crossings.

10:45 p.m. Soft Power, Tehran Style. While aid to Gaza is held up by Israeli restrictions, Iran continues to further its political objectives with assistance. Speaker of the Parliament Ali Larijani said today that Iran will rebuild the Gazan Parliament destroyed by Israeli air raids.

9:30 p.m. While there were no concrete results from the Cairo talks, Egypt is publicly rushing away from Israel and towards "the Palestinians". In Brussels, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit appealed to Europeans to press Tel Aviv to ease the economic blockade, "I ask the European Union to do (things) very, very quickly to rebuild to help the Palestinians to get out of this crisis. We need to force the Israelis to negotiate and also tell them to open crossings and to give Palestinians a chance to live in a normal way."

Gheit's statement is more rhetoric than substance, however. Egypt is refusing to have foreign monitors on its side of the border, so it is effectively passing the buck to Israel, which is balking at an arrangement on the Gazan side.

Meanwhile, some Europeans are still stuck on the old script of the Palestinian Authority's triumphant re-entry into Gaza. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband proclaimed, ""The reunification of the Palestinians under the recognised and cherished voice of President Abbas is so important."



6:35 p.m. No significant news from the talks in Cairo with Hamas and Fatah delegations. Egyptian officials have issued a holding statement that  "Egyptian efforts to consolidate the ceasefire, reach a [permanent] truce, reopen Gaza crossings and resume Palestinian national dialogue" were discussed.

6:10 p.m. As expected, Israel's Cabinet has approved a measure providing legal protection to its military officers if they are accused of war crimes over the Gaza conflict.

5:15 p.m. Propaganda of the Day. Uzi Mahnaimi, who writes from Tel Aviv for the Times, trumpets, "An American naval taskforce in the Gulf of Aden has been ordered to hunt for suspicious Iranian arms ships heading for the Red Sea as Tehran seeks to re-equip Hamas."

That's not news --- we posted this days ago --- but then Mahnaimi is not a reporter in any meaningful sense of the day. Instead, he's a channel for Tel Aviv's "information" line, which in this case is ramping up the campaign against Iran.

Thus Mahnaimi states that a US ship intercepted a "former Russian vessel" and held it for two days --- again, not news, as we noted the incident when it occurred earlier this week --- and adds, "According to unconfirmed reports, weapons were found." Very unconfirmed: the former Russian vessel had artillery, which Hamas does not use, and no further arms were found when it was searched in report.

Of course, this doesn't stop Mahnaimi, who tosses in the Israeli suspicion that two Iranian destroyers, sent to help fight piracy off the Somalian coast, are part of a scheme to run weapons to Gaza. And he has more:

Iran plans to ship Fajr rockets with a 50-mile range to Gaza. This would bring Tel Aviv, its international airport and the Dimona nuclear reactor within reach for the first time.

Of course, Iran may be supplying weapons to Hamas but this story is Israeli-inspired misinformation, of value to Tel Aviv's political schemes but worthless for any analysis of the aftermath of the Gaza conflict.

3:30 p.m. Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Beirut, has issued a defiant statement about the attempt to block arms shipments to Gaza: "We will continue to get weapons into Gaza and the (West) Bank. Let nobody think we will surrender to measures. Perhaps matters will get more difficult, but we are ready to ride out any difficulty ... so that the resistance continues."

Hamdan added that those who think monitoring can detect the movement of weapons through tunnels "are deluded".

11:15 a.m. Rafah Kid has posted a series of new photos from Jabaliya with the note, "It's a mess here."

11 a.m. From the diary of Mohammad Dawwas, reprinted in The Independent of London:

22 January: I went to the burns department in Shifa hospital. I've never seen anything like this in my life. These phosphorus burns. Their bodies were black. One person has stitches everywhere. It's worse than killing people. They look like the living dead. I also went to the north, to Beit Lahiya. This was one of the most beautiful areas of farmland. Now it's gone, you can't recognise the place. I wanted to cry.

10:05 a.m. More on the aid front: Iran has established a Gaza Reconstruction Headquarters to "build 1,000 houses, 10 schools and five mosques, and reconstruct 500 shops, a hospital and a university".

10 a.m. Hamas has begun distribution of $52 million of aid in Gaza, with families receiving $1300 for each member killed and $650 for each wounded. The Observer of London has a lengthy background article.

Morning update (9:20 a.m. Israel/Gaza time): Important talks in Cairo today with Hamas and Fatah delegations on issues such as the manning of the border crossings. Hamas representatives will meet the head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman, who met with an Israeli envoy on Thursday.

As we noted yesterday, if Hamas and Fatah agree on an arrangement in which some Gazan-based members of the Palestinian Authority join the border force, along with guards from European Union countries and Turkey, it will throw a difficult choice back at Israel. Tel Aviv will either to hold out, maintaining its stranglehold on aid and the Gazan economy, or ease its policy on the crossings.

The Israeli Invasion of Gaza: Updates (20 January)

See also: Chris Emery on Israeli Elections and the Gaza Crisis: What Has Changed?

12:30 a.m. That's all for today. No real diplomatic shifts, and the story of a possible full Israeli withdrawal to welcome President Obama was clearly spin.

Most dramatic development was UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's speech when he discovered the extent of the destruction wrought by Israeli forces. Whether his emotive criticism of Tel Aviv has any effect, especially as he went straight from Gaza to a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, is another question.

Good night and peace to all.

11:55 p.m. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has moved to re-define any initiatives for a settlement with Hamas, announcing in a campaign speech that Israel will not end its blockade of Gaza until there is progress in talks on the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held in Gaza since June 2006.

Meanwhile, Israel has re-confirmed its strategy to get the Palestinian Authority back into Gaza, declaring that any aid to the area should go through the UN, non-governmental organisations, or the PA.

11:40 p.m. The International Atomic Energy Agency will investigate complaints, lodged by ambassadors of Arab countries, that Israel has used depleted uranium in its munitions during the Gaza conflict.

11:30 p.m. Ha'aretz is reporting skirmishes in violation of the Gaza cease-fire on Tuesday. After Palestinian militants (not necessarily from Hamas) fired eight mortars, the Israeli Defense Forces launched an airstrike on the positions. Gunmen also fired on Israeli troops in two separate incidents.



9:45 p.m. Repeating the- importanfiret news from earlier today: Arab countries at the Kuwait summit have been unable to agree on how to support reconstruction in Gaza, disagreeing on whether aid can be dispersed via Hamas.

Meanwhile, it appears that the Obama Administration will name former Senator George Mitchell, who was instrumental in the negotiations of an agreement on Northern Ireland, as his envoy to the Middle East.

9:30 p.m. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has phoned Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to congratulate Hamas on the "victory achieved by confronting the Zionist aggression on Gaza".

9:20 p.m. We're back after a break to live-blog the Inaugural of President Barack Obama.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been quick to offer thanks to former President George W. Bush and a welcome to Obama:

The values of democracy, brotherhood and freedom that constitute the building blocks of American society are also shared by Israeli society, together with the faith in man's power and ability to change and influence his surroundings. We wish the incoming President success in his office and are certain that we will be full partners in advancing peace and stability in the Middle East.

3:35 p.m. Al Jazeera's Mouin Rabbani on Ban's statement: "Those were very, very, very powerful words. We haven't seen a leader of this stature speak such language...condemning Israel but not the Palestinians, using the term 'Palestinian self-determination', calling for investigations and accountability....The Rubicon has been crossed here."

3:15 p.m. Ah, there he is: Ban Ki-Moon emerges, a bit shaken from his debriefing by UN staff. He is "not able to describe" how he feels about the damage and devastation, and he has "expressed his utter frustration, his utter anger" about the attack on the UN compound, asking for those responsible to be accountable.

Political questions remain: Ban continues to press the notion of "Palestinian unity", possibly without any consideration that this might imply the imposition of the Palestinian Authority upon Gaza.

2:45 p.m. UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon is still in hiding in the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza. Al Jazeera has been featuring a shot of a bank of microphones on an empty podium for the last 90 minutes.

1:40 p.m. Arab leaders at Kuwait summit pledge $2 billion for Gaza reconstruction but divide sharply over how to distribute aid: Egypt and Saudi Arabia oppose direct provision to Hamas. On the symbolic front, there is some consensus with the call for Israeli political and military leaders to be tried for war crimes.

1:10 p.m. Donald Macintyre in The Independent of London has more details of the Zeitoun mass killing.

1:02 p.m. Oh, good, a fight over the military figures rather than the humanitarian toll: Israel claims more than 500 Hamas fighters killed (vs. Hamas claim of 48 and "Palestinian factions" claim of 112 plus 170 policemen), more than 12oo of Hamas' 2000 rockets destroyed, and 80 percent of tunnels shut down.

1 p.m. Robert Fisk sums up yesterday's Kuwait summit in nine words: "There was really no adequate comment for this charade."

12:50 p.m. The medical crisis continues: Nasser Medical Compound in Khan Younis has appealed to Arab nursing unions and international organizations to “urgently send nursing staff” to the Gaza Strip to fill a large void there.

12:40 p.m. I don't know if UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is lost, or just too embarrassed to come out, but still no press conference from his visit to Gaza.

12:30 p.m. Interesting dichotomy in Gaza coverage in US and Britain: while broadcast networks have largely moved away from the news service, print journalists --- some belatedly getting access to sites and sources --- are continuing to highlight the legal and humanitarian issues. Sheera Frenkel of The Times has followed the articles in The Guardian with a human-interest story from Israeli attacks on Jabaliya, "Blind and burnt: Mahmoud, 14, young victim of banned white phosphorus shelling", and the revelation: "The Times has uncovered dozens of incidents in which doctors say that civilians have been wounded by white phosphorus."

12:15 p.m. So much for that Arab "Consensus"? Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has apparently told news services that delegations at the Kuwait summit "are unable to agree on a unified statement about Gaza".

10:20 a.m. Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin continues to warn of possible outbreak of disease, with bodies now weeks old and sewage flowing over in many areas.

9:55 a.m. Eyewitnesses are telling Al Jazeera that Israeli troops are destroying buildings and infrastructure as they pull back in Gaza.

9:45 a.m. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will be in Gaza in just over an hour.

Morning Updates (8 a.m. Israel/Gaza time): The Central Bureau of Statistics in Palestine has confirmed more than 1300 Gazans have been killed and more than 5400 wounded in the conflict. More than 4,000 buildings were destroyed; another 18,000 were severely damaged. The total cost to Gaza of the invasion is more than $1.9 billion. A new and staggering figure: more than 80 percent of Gazan crops were destroyed.

Hamas has survived as the Gazan leadership, however, and it will offer a public demonstration today with a "victory rally".

Meanwhile, Barack Obama's team keep insisting that he will now enter the diplomatic arena, named a special envoy to the Middle East today. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will maintained his even-handed intervention with a visit to Sderot in southern Israel; there are reports he will also visit the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Invasion of Gaza: Rolling Updates (12 Jan --- Evening)

Later Updates: The Israeli Invasion of Gaza (13 January)
Latest Post: "Bring Fatah Into Gaza"
Latest Post: Tony Blair Slams Hamas; His Former Ambassador Slams Blair and Israel


12:40 p.m. Off for downtime: a "holding pattern" day as Israeli Cabinet seems undecided on its next day and Hamas --- through a military strategy of remaining elusive and a political strategy of popping up to make statements --- holds out. While Israel may make out that it is playing "Whack-a-Mole" with the enemy, it is more likely that the Israeli military has a growing concern. Neither moving forward nor backwards, Israeli forces may become a static target for Hamas hit-and-run targets.

I don't think the situation is tenable from an Israeli point of view for many days but, with no political breakthrough, what is their next step?



11:40 p.m. News that Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, insisting that an immediate cease-fire in Gaza "must be observed" prompts the question: what happened, if anything on the diplomatic front? I still have not seen any news out of Cairo.

11:35 p.m. Catching up: Hamas leader (and, for Al Jazeera, "deposed Palestinian prime minister") Ismail Haniya made his second speech during the Gaza conflict, which he promised would "deliver a new future" to the Gazan people: "Victory comes with patience."

11:30 p.m. The Guardian of London has the story of the frustration of doctors at al-Arish hospital in the Sinai in Egypt:

"There are 4,000 injured people just 50km from here," [the surgeon] says quietly. "We're sitting in a very well-equipped hospital with more than 100 doctors on call, ready to deal with more than 400 emergency cases through the week. But they are not coming. We don't know why. We just wait."

11:10 p.m. Ground battles intensifying in Jabaliya and moving southward towards Zeitoun, but still on periphery of Gaza City. More Israeli airstrikes around Rafah.

11:05 p.m. Al Jazeera is all over the Zeitoun massacre story. Israeli spokesman Mark Regev is telling bald-faced lies such as "we didn't have forces operating in this way in the area" and Israeli forces "didn't put members of the family in a house" capped with the line that this is all Hamas propaganda.

Israel did get more than 100 trucks with aid into Gaza but distribution still restricted because of fuel shortages. More than 70 percent of Gazans have no electricity; 1/3 have no running water.

11 p.m. Back after a celebration of the 100th anniversary of a fabulous institution called Fircroft College (more about this later in a separate blog).

8:03 p.m. CNN headline: "U.S. targets nuclear proliferation network". Ah, good, that will mean American sanctions on Israel....

8:01 p.m. Tangential (irrelevant?) development of the day: "EU Proposes Gaza Donor Conference"

8 p.m. Sorry to be a drag, but all hell is breaking loose in Somalia, where Government troops have killed "many" in response to an attack on the Presidential Palace.

7:10 p.m. Al Jazeera: "There are gun battles between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters in the areas of east Jabaliya and Tuffah. We are also hearing eyewitness reports that several houses have been demolished in the north, in Beit Hanoun and in other areas."

6:45 p.m. We've just posted an analysis, "Bring Fatah into Gaza: The Call to Arms in the Washington Post"

6:05 p.m. Iran's Press TV is reporting that Israeli bombardment has hit a clinic and (via Al-Aqsa TV) the al-Dorra children's hospital.

6 p.m. OK, this is getting curious. Not a peep out of Cairo, either on the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal or on the specific Egyptian-Israeli discussions on control of the border and tunnels in southern Gaza

5:34 p.m. There is a running discussion of the live feed from Gaza City, and the Israeli attempt to redirect it. CNN's take-up of the Ramattan feed can now be watched.

5:23 p.m. I'm going to drop all semblance of objectivity for a minute. This is the disgraceful response --- some might say stonewall, some might say lie --- on the Zeitoun mass killing:

Israel says it has no information of an incident in which 30 people were killed when the house they were placed in by the Army was shelled.

5:05 p.m. President Bush has just finished his last press conference. Best comment: "I hope someone is videotaping this cause it's going to be footage like the bunker scene with Hitler in Downfall."

5:02 p.m. The live feed of the Ramattan News Agency, which we have monitored for the last few days for news from Gaza City, has been redirected to an Israeli television station.

5 p.m. Israel/Gaza time: CNN continues to lead with the humanitarian story, based on the diary of an aid worker, apparently unaware of the jarring juxtaposition with its second story, "Israel breaks off attacks to allow relief supplies into Gaza".

The Israeli Invasion of Gaza: Rolling Updates (11 January)

Latest Post: Reading Israeli Intentions
Latest post: Israel's Other War: US Rejected Aid for Attack on Iran
Latest post: “Alive in Gaza” Now On-Line

1:02 a.m. As we get some downtime, it looks like Israeli action is hovering between a show of force before stopping in place, declaring "victory", and pressing ahead into the cities. I still think the decision will hinge on what Tel Aviv gets out of its bilateral talks with Egypt tomorrow --- an Egyptian commitment to patrol the borders and possibly southern Gaza is enough to satisfy Israel that it has achieved some of its objective, an Egyptian rejection is likely to spur Tel Aviv to a more aggressive display of force.

1 a.m. Talks in Cairo today (unsurprisingly) "inconclusive".

Israeli navy has fired about 25 shells into Gaza City in last hour. Aerial bombardment continues. Gazan death toll now 890

12:25 a.m. Now here's a story I haven't seen anyone report. From an Israeli human rights website:

In a hearing on two court petitions submitted by human rights groups in Israel, the High Court [on Friday] ordered the state to explain the delay in permitting evacuation of wounded persons in Gaza and the reason for barring electricity supply for Gaza's crumbling infrastructure.

The Government has been given until Tuesday to provide the explanation.

12 midnight: We've posted a separate special analysis pausing and reflecting on Israel's next move.



9:55 p.m. Al Jazeera offers clarification on the Israeli reservist story:

"I can confirm that a few reserve units have entered Gaza to participate in the operation," [said] major Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman. "We are not talking about a massive amount of forces, rather a limited one to join in the fighting."

Al Jazeera's interpretation, which I think is correct, is that Israel is covering all bases with this move.

9:25 p.m. At least 17 rockets hit southern Israel on Sunday.

9 p.m. Some confusion over the report of Israeli reservists going into #Gaza --- apparently Israeli military spokeswoman Major Amital Liebovich is now saying it is only a response to a "flare-up". No major television network running the story.

8:25 p.m. Beyond Gaza: we've posted an analysis of Barack Obama's apparent shift from immediate closure of Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

8:22 p.m. Israeli chief military spokesman says some units of reservists ordered into Gaza Strip; thousands awaiting orders to move.

8:20 p.m. "Gazamom" reports two Israeli F-16s drop bombs on Gazan Ministry of Education.

8:13 p.m. Breaking ranks? Publicly, at least: King Abdullah of Jordan has distanced himself from the US-Israel position and the Mubarak-Sarkozy process, arguing for world to "force" Israel to observe the United Nations cease-fire resolution.

6:50 p.m. Israeli Government needs to get its story straight. It has briefed media all day that Hamas was a broken force, with fighting fleeing. However, the head of Israeli military intelligence, Major General Amos Yadlin told the Israeli Cabinet that, while "there were cracks in Hamas resilience", the organisation "was not about to succumb, and was still capable of striking Israel and the Israeli Defense Force".

Even worse for Israeli "information", someone passed Yadlin's briefing to The Jerusalem Post. So the illusion of an overwhelming Israeli victory, for the moment, has been suspended.

6:30 p.m. Still no word on any change in Israeli policy.

Rockets still landing in southern Israel, the latest in Ashdod.

5:30 p.m. Al Jazeera: Doctors in Gaza say "people have been admitted suffering burns consistent with the use of...white phosphorus". A resident in Jabaliya reports, "It's suffocating and has a deadly poisonous smell that I am sure will cause a lot of sickness and disease on all of the civilians here."

5:25 p.m. Israel claims its troops came under fire from Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.

4:35 p.m. Following up on the Zeitoun mass killing: if you haven't seen it, the reportage by Taghreed El-Khodary and Isabel Kershner in yesterday's New York Times is a stunning exposure of the atrocity that took place last week, killing about 30 members of the al-Samouni clan and dozens of others in the vicinity:

“I could feel the blood dripping inside my head,” Ahmed said, recalling the days he lay wounded in the bombed-out building. “My father was crawling — he couldn’t move his legs,” he said. His cousin Abdallah, 10, was trying to stand up but kept falling down; his brother Yaqoub, 12, kept removing large pieces of shrapnel from his own stomach; and his sister Amal, 9, was not moving at all. Another brother, Ishaq, 12, was wounded in the legs. He bled for two days before he died.

No wonder that this has "horrified many" since the Red Cross, four days after the Israeli shelling, finally got to the dead and wounded. And no wonder that at least one UN official was moved by this to call for a war crimes investigation.

The reaction of the Israeli military spokeswoman: the army had “no intention of harming civilians".

4:30 p.m. Return from a break to find a quiet period in coverage. No news from Cairo of any "diplomatic efforts" and no significant report of military activity.

2:25 p.m. Israel's next step? CNN finally has a summary recapping what we have updated all morning.

2:20 p.m. From the live feed in Gaza City: "Apaches launching hellfires above Gaza city in support of infantry engagement on the ground. Extremely heavy artillery fire also visible. Israeli drones are also overhead, some low enough to be seen on live feed."

1:50 p.m. Heavy fighting in Jabaliya despite supposed "respite".

1:30 p.m. This from a colleague on Twitter as he watches the live feed from Gaza City: "Watching new strikes in Gaza. BBC reports fighting in the 'outskirts'. 4,000 people per square kilometer, WTF does 'outskirts' mean?"

1:10 p.m. Three rockets land in southern Israel in last hour.

1 p.m. Explosions continue outside Gaza Strip as uncertainty persists over Israel's next move. However, military operations will persist at least until Israel Defense Ministry representative holds talks in Cairo, either today or tomorrow.

12:30 p.m. Something's up but I can't quite figure it out. Israeli media and networks are spreading the story that Hamas has taken heavy losses and, in some cases, "thrown in the towel" and fleeing. This seems to be a set-up for two diverse alternatives: declaring "victory" and limiting operations or, conversely, escalating with push into cities.

Meanwhile, the "respite" hasn't stopped Israeli artillery attacks.

12 noon: A bit of a lull, possibly because of Israeli concerns over further operations, indecision, or even a diplomatic resolution that we don't know about (see earlier post on the scheme to get strengthened Egyptian presence in Gaza). Israeli tanks are reportedly pulling back a bit toward Netzarim, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says before Cabinet meeting, "Israel may be close to achieving its goals."

Today's three- hour "respite" has started. Still, the humanitarian crisis is worsening. Gazan death toll is now 875

10:35 a.m. An interesting post in The Jerusalem Post that "the Israeli Defense Force will likely expand its operations". Plan is being supported by psychological warfare, including assertions of more than 300 Hamas fighters killed and "entire battalions wiped out".

The twist is that the reason given is "to press Egypt to declare its readiness to stop the weapons smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula into Gaza". That indicates Israel is seeking an expanded Egyptian military presence on the Egypt-Gaza border and possibly in southern Gaza. Israeli Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad, is travelling to Cairo on Monday for discussions.

Morning update (10:15 a.m. Israel/Gaza time): The ground offensive is turning out not to be a dramatic charge but a gradual, step-by-step advance to the edge of cities. Israeli forces and Hamas fighters clashed north and east of Gaza City overnight.

In southern Gaza near Khan Yunis, one civilian was killed and 49 severely burned when Israeli shelling set several building on fire, including a United Nations school. In Jabaliya, nine members of the same family were killed by an Israeli shell.

Demonstrations took place throughout Europe on Saturday. The largest was in London, while others protested in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Milan, Innsbruck, Paris, Berlin, and Oslo. At least 3000 demonstrators gathered in Lafayette Park outside the White House in Washington.

More than 850 Gazans have been killed since the start of the conflict 15 days ago. Twenty rockets were fired into southern Israel on Saturday, injuring four Israelis.

The Israeli Invasion of Gaza: Rolling Updates (10 January)

Latest Story: The Plan to Bring Fatah into Gaza — Livni Speaks
The Final Bush Legacy: Why the US Abstained on the Gaza Resolution
Latest Story: The Plan to Bring Fatah into Gaza?

12:10 a.m. With a lull in activity, we're going for some downtime. We half-expected a major Israeli ground attack before dawn but it appears that the Israeli Cabinet may still be undecided about pushing into Gazan cities.

Meanwhile, it's safe --- and sad --- to say that all is stalled on the political front. This has settled into a frustrating circle: none of the major players wants to appear to make a concession to Hamas (since most of those players want to get rid of the organisation) and, without a concession such as the opening of border crossings, Hamas will not negotiate for a cease-fire.



11:25 p.m. Israeli military says seven soldiers "lightly wounded" on Saturday. More than 60 targets hit in airstrikes. Suicide bomber killed in northern Gaza.

Four members of same family killed by Israeli tank shell near Beit Lahiya.

10:15 p.m. Israeli bombing raids in northeastern Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli "information" services brings out their secret weapon: "internationally-renowned singer Noa", who speaks for peace to "Palestinian brothers":

Now I see the ugly head of fanaticism, I see it large and horrid, I see its black eyes and spine-chilling smile, I see blood on its hands and I know one of its many names :Hamas.

9:55 p.m. Watching Khaled Meshaal recorded statement: while he says Israel has ruined chance of peace, I think he has set down a marker: Hamas will negotiate if there is an unconditional opening of the crossings (which Israel will not accept, of course)

9:50 p.m. Khaled Mashaal, Hamas leader in Damascus, tells Al Jazeera that Israel has failed in Gaza, achieving only "a holocaust which your leaders are trying to use for the next election".

9:45 p.m. Report of 500-1000 demonstrators in front of Israeli Embassy in London. Shoes and signs being thrown, and riot police charging the crowd.

9 p.m. Four Israeli F-16 jets violate Egyptian airspace.

8:30 p.m. Human Rights Watch tells Al Jazeera that it is "convinced" Israeli military is using white phosphorous

8:15 p.m. Information or disinformation? Israel's Channel 2 claims some Hamas fighters are wearing civilian clothes and some are impersonating IDF soldiers.

7:50 p.m. "Rafah Kid" is blogging with updates and opinion from Rafah, Gaza.

7:40 p.m. BBC says up to 50,000 at London demonstration for Gaza. Participants estimate more than 100,000.

6:20 p.m. Israeli military claims that it has killed Gaza City commander of Hamas rocket launching programme.

4:25 p.m. Diplomatic battle lines drawn between Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas. Abbas in Cairo supports "international presence in the Gaza Strip", but Hamas delegation says it was not consulted.

While Abbas covered his back with the warning, "If Israel doesn't want to accept, it will take the responsibility of perpetuating a waterfall of blood," he also set up Hamas for the fall if it does not accept the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal: "If any party does not accept it, regrettably it will be the one bearing the responsibility."

4:15 p.m. Associated Press says leaflets dropped by Israel throughout Gaza announce "a new phase in the war on terror". Israeli Army calls the leaflets "a general warning".

3:45 p.m. Diplomatic negotiations going nowhere. Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have rejected the placement in Egypt of international observers for the Gaza-Egypt border, while Hamas have rejected the placement of an international force in Gaza.

3:40 p.m. From the diary of Sami Abdel Shafi, management consultant and columnist in Gaza City:

Whatever capacity we did have to run our own affairs is now no longer there, and it will make it extraordinarily difficult for the Gaza Strip to go forward whenever the war does end.

Only then will people discover the real cost of this war, when we have to look around and ask just how we begin a rebuilding effort on such a massive scale.

3:35 p.m. UN says three-hour respite not enough to allow resumption of aid deliveries in Gaza.

3:30 p.m. Israel dropping leaflets on Gaza City residents warning them to stay indoors as it plans to "escalate" offensive.

2:15 p.m. The interview with Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert could have a significant impact if it spreads beyond Al Jazeera, which is featuring it each hour. Gilbert is saying that the injuries he is seeing are not from "ordinary" shrapnel but from DIME (dense inert metal explosive) weapons.

Claims that the Israelis used DIME in Gaza first surfaced in 2006. The weapons have not been declared illegal, but the injuries caused show severe heat as well as percussive damage.

2 p.m. Israeli ground offensive imminent? Israeli Cabinet approves call-up of "unlimited" number of reservists

1:45 p.m. Explosions continue despite supposed three-hour "respite".

1:25 p.m. United Nations official Chris Gunness says Israeli Defense Forces have admitted responsibility for the Jabiliya school/shelter bombing:

In briefings senior officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school. The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional.

Gunness added that footage released by the IDF, trying to show Hamas fighters operated from the school in 2007, was filmed after the UN had temporarily abandoned the site.

1:10 p.m. Israeli military says three-hour "respite" began at 1 p.m. Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin reports that Israeli forces have surrounded all major population centers in Gaza City.

UN is now investigating the Zeitoun mass killing.

1 p.m. Gazan death toll now 815.

12:40 p.m. Israeli tank shell kills eight members of a family in Jabaliya camp.

12:10 p.m. In Cairo, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas calls Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal a "rescue initiative" which is "the only mechanism" to end Gaza war. Sharp-eyed readers will note that Abbas makes no reference to the UN cease-fire resolution passed just over 24 hours ago.

12:05 p.m. Latest Israeli airstrike just outside Gaza City as Ayman Moyheldin reports live on Al Jazeera.

12 noon: Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor, says 165 dead children and more than 1200 wounded children brought to al Shifa hospital to date.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin says Israelis are bringing aid into warehouse but international agencies cannot and will not distribute because of security issues and shortage of fuel. No resumption of aid shipments so far. Close combat between Israeli and Hamas forces overnight, with unknown number of Hamas fighters killed and five Israeli troops wounded.

11:10 a.m. Journalists in Gaza demonstrate after the Israeli strike on a building used by media.

11 a.m. Poll of the Day: Hamas' military branch, the Al Qassam Brigades, offers visitors to their English website the choice of "Keep Calm", "Resume Rockets", "Resume Operations". Right now, it's 40 percent each for "Keep Calm" and "Resume Operations", with 20 percent for "Resume Rockets".

Morning Update: Israeli operations continue overnight, with strikes on more than 40 targets, as talks begin in Cairo on the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal.

Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, "expressed disappointment that the violence is continuing on the ground in disregard". A UN official has called for a war crimes investigation of Israeli actions.

More to our follow-up on the Zeitoun mass killing: The Guardian has an article --- it appears at least 30 members of the al-Samouni clan died in the Israeli shelling of a house, and up to 30 other civilians died nearby. The dead and wounded lay unattended for up to four days.

More than 800 Gazans have been killed since the start of the conflict two weeks ago. Thirteen Israelis, of whom 10 are soldiers, have been killed --- in contrast to the claims of the Al Qassam Brigades that they killed eight Israeli troops in an ambush, claims no losses on Friday.