Tel Aviv  - The radical Islamic Hamas movement formally announced early Friday that a six-month truce with Israel had ended and would not be extended.

In a statement issued in Gaza by its armed wing the al-Qassam Brigades as the truce expired at 6 am (0400 GMT), Hamas blamed Israel for its collapse, Israel Radio reported.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum had already said Thursday that there was no room for extending the truce, brokered by Egypt on June 19.

An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio, expressed regret at the end of the truce and said the Palestinian people would be the ones paying the price.

Tel Aviv  - Parliament Speaker Dalia Itzik won the most votes in primaries to choose the Knesset list for Israel's ruling Kadima party, results released early Thursday showed.

Itzik was followed by veteran legislator Tzahi Hanegbi and Finance Minister Roni Bar-On. They are to occupy the third, fourth and fifth places on the Kadima list, respectively, after the party's leader, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Tel Aviv - Twenty-seven Russian tourists of the 31 evacuated from the scene of a horrific bus accident in Israel late Tuesday afternoon were still in hospital Wednesday morning, Police Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

Two of the injured were pronounced dead on arrival at hospital and two others died shortly afterwards, bringing the death toll in the accident to 24, he said.

All the injured have been transferred from the hospital in Eilat, near the scene of the crash, to medical centres elsewhere in the country.

Tel Aviv - Ten foreign tourists were killed and dozens injured Tuesday when their tour bus plunged into a gully on a road near the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat, Israeli media reported, Israel Radio reported.

The bus veered off the road and rolled down into a wadi, landing on its side and trapping several people underneath, the radio said.

Some 20 ambulances and three Israel Air Force helicopters were rushed to the scene and began evacuating passengers to a hospital in Eilat.

Tel Aviv - Israel approved Wednesday the transfer of some 100 million shekels (25.5 million dollars) from banks in the West Bank to their counterparts in the Gaza Strip.

The approval came in response to a personal appeal from Palestinian premier Salam Fayyad and a request from Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, local media reported.

Israel has refused to let money enter the Strip since October, and will not allow West Bank banks transfer funds, in retaliation for continued Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Tel Aviv  - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the military to open the country's border crossings with Gaza on Tuesday to allow trucks with basic humanitarian supplies to enter the strip for the fifth time in more than one month.

Some 40 trucks with basic food products and medical supplies of the United Nations and other aid organizations were passing through the Kerem Shalom crossing with southern Gaza, Israel Radio reported.

Israel also opened the Karni crossing for commercial goods with central Gaza to some 30 more trucks transporting grains. Cooking gas and industrial diesel for Gaza's power plant would be allowed in through the Nahal Oz fuel crossing as well, the radio said.