Amman - Thousands of Jordanians demonstrated Wednesday, demanding an end to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The demonstration, which ended in front of the National Assembly building, was organized by the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement, its political arm - the Islamic Action Front (IAF) and trade unions.

The participants raised placards and chanted slogans that criticized Arab countries, particularly Egypt, for their failure to break the siege and re-open the crossing points between the Palestinian territory and Egypt.

Gaza City  - A barrage of rockets hit Israeli towns early Saturday as Palestinian militants again breached an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday morning, the Islamic Jihad faction said it fired 10 homemade rockets into Israeli cities near the Gaza Strip.

The al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the less-influential Islamic Jihad, said six of the rockets were fired at Sderot city, north-east of the Gaza Strip, and four missiles were aimed at the coastal city of Ashkelon.

Gaza - An Israeli air strike late Wednesday night killed one Palestinian militant in the northern Gaza strip, medical officials and witnesses said.

An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv confirmed the attack, saying it was aimed at a group which had earlier in the evening launched one missile at southern Israel, and was about to launch another.

Three other militants were wounded in the strike, which took place east of the Jebaliya refugee camp. The fatality was identified as Ghassan al-Taramssi, 23, a member of the Islamic Jihad organization.

Tel Aviv - Israeli troops left the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, hours after entering it in the most serious clash between the Israel Defence Force (IDF) and Palestinian militants since a ceasefire went into effect June 19.

The raid left six Palestinians - five militants and a civilian woman - dead, medical officials said.

A military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said the troops went into the strip late Tuesday to destroy a 250-metre-long tunnel being dug under the border, which, she said, was being prepared to aid in the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

The operation was a "pinpoint" one, she said, to destroy an "immediate threat."

Amman - King Abdullah II of Jordan on Monday rejected Israel's excavations at al-Magharebah Gate in East Jerusalem as an "illegal" step that could affect the Islamic nature of the holy city.

Abdullah made the remarks during a meeting with the visiting UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura, a royal court statement said.

"The monarch asserted the illegality of the Israeli moves at al-Magharebah Gate and urged Israel to abide by the relevant international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Convention of 1954," according to the statement.

Doha - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived in Abu Dhabi Monday as he completes a four-day Gulf tour which already took him to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Brown has already received assurances from Saudi Arabia and Qatar that they will contribute to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) account to stabilize national economies rocked by the global financial crisis.