Gaza - Palestinian officials on Saturday warned the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip will deteriorate because Israel is showing no signs of opening crossing points it shut down.

"There are no indications that goods required to meet the basic needs of the Gaza Strip will be allowed to enter in the next few days," said Hatem Owaida, an official at the ministry of economics.

Israel closed the commercial crossing points along Gaza Strip on November 4, following a surge of violence that left a June ceasefire in tatters.

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday the flare-up in fighting that violated the ceasefire in Gaza Strip has the potential to inflict more suffering and violence to the civilian population.

Rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian militants and Israeli retaliation have threatened the truce agreed upon since June between the two sides, Ban said, calling on both sides to respect international humanitarian and human rights law.

London, Nov 13 : An Israeli soldier has been jailed for three weeks because he yawned during an official ceremony.

The soldier, who has not been identified, yawned loudly during a memorial event last week for the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The commander of the Ramat David Israel Air Force base was delivering a speech at the time.

Speaking on Israeli public radio, the soldier’s mother said her son had yawned without covering his mouth, The Telegraph reported.

She added that the commander spotted him, halted his speech and later ordered he be punished for his disrespect.

New York, Nov. 13, 2008  -- Foreign Minister, H. H.

Gaza- Israeli troops killed four Palestinians in a fire- fight in the southern Gaza Strip Wednesday, further battering an already shaky five-month-old truce.

Palestinian witnesses said the four were killed in a series of airstrikes as the Israelis during the fighting, and Hamas said they had belonged to its military wing.

The Israeli military said in a communique that troops stationed on the border fence between the Strip and Israel had identified several gunmen attempting to place explosive devices.

Gaza - Israeli troops killed four Palestinians in a fire- fight in the southern Gaza Strip Wednesday, further battering an already shaky truce.

An Israeli military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said the troops had spotted a group of armed men making their way to the border fence which separates the salient from Israel, and had opened fire.