Israel's security cabinet

At least 61 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli bombardment, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday, as Israel was preparing to send negotiators to new truce talks in Qatar.

Israel's military said it attacked targets of the Islamist group Hamas in southern Lebanon and stepped up strikes on the Gaza Strip after yesterday's rocket attacks on Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an emergency meeting of the security cabinet, and the United Nations called on all parties to exercise restraint.

Israel's security cabinet has approved measures that will make it easier for Israelis to obtain permits to own weapons so "thousands more civilians" can acquire them, and will "strengthen" Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The Hamas resistance group called on the Palestinian administration Jan. 1 to work together with it and other groups against Israel's decision to withhold millions of dollars in tax funds from Palestinians.

In a statement, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the decision once again proves the "piracy of Israel."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will hold talks in Ankara on Aug. 28 amid calls for the resumption of negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis to end the conflict. 

Israel started setting up roadblocks in Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem and deploying soldiers in cities across the country on Oct. 14 to try to combat the worst surge of violence in months.

Palestinian officials condemned the security measures - the most serious clampdown in the Jerusalem area since a Palestinian uprising a decade ago - as collective punishment. 

Israel's security cabinet on Sept.24 broadened the rules under which stone-throwers can be targeted by live fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

Israel's security cabinet approved on August 2 the detention of  citizens suspected of waging violence against Palestinians without trial in a crackdown aimed at capturing the perpetrators of a lethal West Bank arson attack blamed on Jewish militants. 

Israel mobilised 16,000 additional reservists on July 31 to bolster its forces waging military operations in the Gaza Strip that left more than 100 Palestinians dead in a day.

Israeli fire Friday pushed the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to above 800, as Washington pressed Israel and Hamas to agree a week-long humanitarian ceasefire and thrash out a durable truce.
      
In the West Bank, Palestinian factions declared a "Day of Rage" after a night of clashes over Israel's Gaza offensive, with one Palestinian killed.