AP - Intense fighting in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday left four Hamas gunmen dead, Hamas said.

AP - Former President Carter angered Israel's government Tuesday by embracing a Hamas politician during a visit to the West Bank, ignoring Israeli and U.S. designation of the Islamic militants as a terror group. Israel accused Carter, the broker of the first Arab-Israeli peace accord, of "dignifying" extremists. But Carter vowed to meet Hamas' supreme leader this week in Syria.

AP - The U.N. Security Council called Tuesday for the disarming of Hezbollah and other militias in Lebanon along with greater progress toward a cease-fire and a solution to the conflict between Lebanon and Israel.

Reuters - Israel's air force attacked two Palestinian militants as they rode a motorcycle through the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing one and wounding the other, Hamas police officials said.

AP - An Israeli aircraft fired a missile late Tuesday at a motorcycle in northern Gaza, killing a Islamic Jihad commander, Palestinians said.

AP - Seven Kuwaitis will be put on trial for allegedly sending a statement to Lebanese and Iranian television stations eulogizing slain Hezbollah militant Imad Mughniyeh, their lawyer said Tuesday.

AFP - Visiting US national security advisor Stephen Hadley was to discuss Iran's nuclear programme with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday night, public radio said.

AFP - Israel said on Tuesday that five wildcat settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank are being evacuated this week, amid US pressure to show progress on the issue.

AFP - Syria is supplying Lebanon's Hezbollah militia with rockets in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak charged on Tuesday.

AFP - Shin Beth, Israel's highly secretive domestic intelligence agency, has launched English and Arabic versions of its web pages, an official said on Tuesday.

Reuters - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met an ex-minister in Hamas' government on Tuesday, defying Israeli leaders who shunned the Nobel Peace Prize laureate over his contacts with the Islamist group.

AP - Former President Carter angered Israel's government Tuesday by embracing a Hamas politician during a visit to the West Bank, ignoring Israeli and U.S. designation of the Islamic militants as a terror group.

AFP - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni left Qatar on Tuesday after a rare visit to an Arab country during which she lobbied for support against Iran's nuclear drive and urged Arab states to forge ties with Israel.

AP - Israel has agreed to let Jewish settlers build new houses in existing West Bank settlements in exchange for dismantling unauthorized settlement outposts, settlers and defense officials said Tuesday.

AFP - Former US president Jimmy Carter said on Tuesday he wanted to visit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on his current Middle East tour but indicated that Israel refused to authorise the trip.

AFP - Israeli forces entered the southern Gaza Strip early on Tuesday and carried out searches accompanied by exchanges of fire and explosions, wounding at least five people, medics said.

AP - Israel says it will resume some crucial fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip.

AFP - The Israeli army early Tuesday entered the south of the Gaza Strip and carried out searches accompanied by exchanges of fire and explosions, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said.

AFP - Lebanon is a liberal Middle East country with unfettered Internet access, but state censorship is also rife on any topics that touch upon Israel or sensitive issues such as religion.

AFP - Israeli President Shimon Peres blamed "weak" and divided Palestinian factions for holding up a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, in an interview published Tuesday.