Washington  - US President George W Bush said there has been a "good deal" of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process despite the failed effort to reach a settlement before he leaves office.

"No question this is a hard challenge," Bush said during a meeting Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "But, nevertheless, people must recognize that we have made a good deal of progress."

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.

Gaza City/Tel Aviv - Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip intensified their rocket attacks against Israel Wednesday, as a six-month ceasefire is about to expire.

Seven Gaza-made rockets were launched at Israel's southern Negev desert, one of which hit a hothouse, a military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said.

Israel had again closed its border crossings with the Gaza Strip Tuesday, after the radical Islamic Jihad faction fired four rockets into its territory.

A truce brokered by Egypt on June 19 between Israel and Palestinian militant factions active in Gaza, including the radical Hamas movement ruling the strip, is entering its last day Thursday.

Tel Aviv/Ramallah - The Middle East peace process is hanging by a thread as 2009 is nearing - just one year after negotiations were revived following seven years of violence.

Tehran - It was not the best of years for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

As 2008 drew to a close, the president had yet to realize his promised reforms, and Iran once again faced growing inflation at home and increasing isolation abroad.

The country's economic problems, with inflation soaring beyond 30 per cent, served to increase the number of Ahmadinejad's critics, even among the conservatives who once supported the president.

Widespread criticism led to the formation of a "neo-conservative" faction which won parliamentary elections and appointed Ali Larijani as its leader and speaker of the legislature.

Berlin - Coordination on Middle East peace moves with the European Union and other states is vital, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Tuesday on a visit to Berlin.

Cairo was still trying to persuade both Israel and Hamas authorities in Gaza to agree to a new truce when the existing one expires this Thursday. Some Palestinian militants oppose extending the truce.

"The region is going through a very, very critical phase," he said after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. That was why coordination with the West had to be "very close."