Israeli military

Israeli troops and tanks launched a brief ground raid into northern Gaza overnight into Thursday, the military said, striking several militant targets in order to "prepare the battlefield" ahead of a widely expected ground invasion after more than two weeks of devastating air raids.

Israel's military said it was preparing for a "relentless attacks" against Hamas. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the death toll in Gaza has already exceeded 5,000. Israeli airstrikes have continued for more than two weeks in response to a Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed more than 1,400 people.

An Israeli civilian was injured in the occupied West Bank Sunday when troops fired at a group of "masked suspects" who turned out to be Israeli citizens, the army said.

Israel carried out air strikes in Syria near the government-held city of Homs, Syrian state media reported on Sunday, and the Israeli army later said it had responded to rocket fire.

Hundreds of Israeli settlers stormed into a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, setting fire to dozens of cars and homes to avenge the deaths of four Israelis killed by Palestinian gunmen the previous day, residents said. Palestinians said one man was killed in the violence.

A Palestinian prisoner died in Israeli custody early Tuesday after a hunger strike of nearly three months, Israel's prison service announced.

Greece condemned on Friday a barrage of rocket attacks against Israel which Israeli military blamed on Palestinian militants and urged both sides to show "restraint", citing the religious holidays.

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 launched rare strikes in southern Lebanon early Friday and pressed on with bombing targets in the Gaza Strip, marking a widening escalation in the region following violence this week at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site.

Israeli police stormed into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City early Wednesday, firing stun grenades at Palestinian youths who hurled firecrackers at them in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday season. Palestinian militants in Gaza responded with rocket fire on southern Israel, prompting repeated Israeli airstrikes.