Hamas

The Israeli army said it killed three leaders of the Islamic Jihad militant group Tuesday in air strikes on Gaza, which left a dozen dead according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory.

The ministry said that women and children were among the dead, publishing a list of names without ages or detailing any affiliations.

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.

They decided to intensify their strike after rocket attacks on Israel from the territory of Lebanon on Thursday.
"The Israeli army will not allow the terrorist organization Hamas to carry out operations from Lebanon, and we hold the state of Lebanon responsible for any attack that comes from its territory," the Israeli army said, Reuters reported.

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.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan began at sundown on March 22, as the faithful prepared for a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting intended to bring them closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of those less fortunate.

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.

A gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalem's Old City early Sunday, wounding eight Israelis in a suspected Palestinian attack that came a week after violence flared up between Israel and militants in Gaza, police and medics said.