Ramallah - The social affairs minister in the West Bank-based Palestinian government Thursday accused gunmen from the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip of hijacking dozens of trucks carrying aid intended for residents reeling from the three-week-long Israeli assault.

Mahmoud Habbash told Voice of Palestine Radio that the trucks were supposed to come under the authority of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Ramallah  - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday promised his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas to work for peace in the Middle East, according to Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

In a statement published on the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Abu Rudeineh said Obama made his first call to Abbas since Obama assumed office on Tuesday, assuring the Palestinian leader that he and his administration "will do all they can to bring peace to the region."

Oslo- The Norwegian Foreign Ministry distanced itself Wednesday from an e-mail sent by a Norwegian diplomat comparing Israel's offensive in Gaza with events in World War II and the persecution of Jews.

"We have clearly stated that the content does not represent Norway's official view," Foreign Ministry spokesman Haakon Svane told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The female diplomat, based in Saudi Arabia, sent an e-mail from her official foreign ministry account with some 40 photos from Gaza paired with World War II images.

Kuwait - Leaders of Arab countries agreed at a summit in Kuwait on Tuesday to rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip and called for a reconciliation of Palestinian factions.

The summit also demanded that Israel withdraw immediately from the strip and said Israel should be held responsible for any war crimes.

Rebuilding infrastructure that has been destroyed in Gaza would be the first priority of Arab governments, said Arab League chief, Amr Moussa in a press conference.

Gaza City - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he was "deeply grieved" at the scenes he witnessed in Gaza following a three-week Israeli offensive, adding they were "heartbreaking."

He added he was "appalled" also at the damage done to the world body's Gaza City headquarters.

"I'm just appalled. I'm not able to describe how I am feeling at this sight," he said of the compound, which was was struck by several Israeli shells late last week.

Jerusalem, Jan. 20 : Iran has renewed efforts to supply advanced weaponry to Hamas, even as the Israel Defence Force (IDF) has expressed concern over the terror group trying to smuggle long-range Fajr missiles into the Gaza Strip.

According to the latest intelligence assessments, Iran, which was responsible for writing Hamas''s military doctrine, has already launched an internal probe to determine how the plan it had created for Hamas failed to cause more IDF casualties.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the military plan created by the Iranians was based on three pillars: