Gaza/Tel Aviv  - A truck loaded with explosives blew up Thursday morning at the northern Gaza Strip's border crossing of Erez with Israel, killing the Palestinian driver, an Israeli military spokes

Gaza City - Israeli soldiers stationed on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shot dead a Palestinian militant Wednesday morning in the centre of the salient, medical officials said.

Tel Aviv/Cairo  - Israel Wednesday would not confirm or deny Egyptian statements that it had accepted in principle a proposal for a truce in the Gaza Strip.

Paris - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Monday confirmed a newspaper report that France had opened political contacts with the radical Islamic group Hamas.