Tel Aviv - The number of buildings in Israeli settlements in the West Bank grew in 2008 compared to 2007, with 1,257 constructed, a report by an Israeli settlement watchdog has found.

In a study released Wednesday, the Peace Now movement also found that 261 new structures were built by settlers in West Bank outposts.

Some 39 per cent of the new structures built in 2008, or 591, were built east of the barrier Israel has constructed along the West Bank, the report found.

London - The recent conflict in Gaza has not eliminated the threat to Israel from the radical Islamist Hamas movement and served to "legitimize" the organization at the expense of more moderate forces, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said Tuesday.

Tehran - Tehran summoned the head of the Egyptian interest section to protest what it said was Cairo's obstruction in getting Iranian aid to the Gaza Strip, the official news agency IRNA reported Tuesday.

An Iranian foreign ministry official said Cairo has still not issued the necessary permission for an Iranian ship carrying aid for Gaza to anchor in Egypt.

Tehran reportedly told the Egyptian envoy that while the blocking of the Iranian aid ship by Israel was predictable, Egypt's rejection was "not justifiable at all."

Cairo - European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tuesday met with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Cairo for talks on the situation in the Gaza Strip.

The two discussed efforts to consolidate a lasting ceasefire, opening Gaza's borders to facilitate humanitarian aid for Palestinians, and Egypt's efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions.

Solana's visit, which started Monday night, was part of a two-day Middle East tour which would also take him to Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel.

Damascus - On the eve of EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana's visit to the region, Damascus-based Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday that Hamas is talking with European "parties" directly, but that it could not yet divulge details.

"There are contacts with European parties at this stage, but we are not announcing any details," Meshaal told reporters in Damascus.

Meshaal also refused to elaborate Hamas' position on talks in Cairo aimed at reaching a lasting truce between Hamas and Israel until it had concluded its negotiations with Egyptian officials.

Gaza City - Hamas has offered Israel a one-year truce, a senior official in the radical Islamic movement ruling Gaza said Monday.

Hamas accepts a one-year "hudna," or truce in Arabic, if this included guarantees that Israel will lift its economic blockade of Gaza and "completely" reopen its crossings of the strip, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on the telephone.