United States aid for the Gaza Strip’s reconstruction will likely top $900 million, an official said, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepared to make her first Mideast trip as America’s top diplomat.
Israeli and Palestinian officials said Monday that Clinton will visit Israel and the West Bank during the first week of March.
Clinton said [...]

Palestinian militants detonated a bomb targeting an Israeli army patrol along the Gaza border, the Israeli military said, in the first violence since a cease-fire went into effect more than a week ago.
Heavy gunfire was audible along the border in central Gaza and Israeli helicopters hovered in the air, firing bursts from their machine guns, [...]

Israel withdrew the last of its troops from the Gaza Strip before dawn Wednesday, the military said, and pursued diplomatic efforts to stanch the flow of arms into the Hamas-ruled territory.
The timing of the pullout reflected Israeli hopes to defuse the crisis in Gaza before President Barack Obama entered the White House.
The military said troops [...]

The Saudi king said Monday his country will donate $1 billion to help rebuild the Gaza Strip after the devastating Israeli offensive and told Israel that an Arab initiative offering peace will not remain on the table forever.
King Abdullah’s comments at an Arab economic summit in Kuwait City were his first since Israel and the [...]

Israel plans to pull all of its troops out of the Gaza Strip by the time President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated Tuesday, but only if Hamas militants hold their fire, Israeli officials said.
Thousands of troops have left Gaza since Israel declared Saturday its intention to unilaterally halt fire after a devastating, three-week Israeli onslaught.
Gaza’s Hamas [...]

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel announced late Saturday night that the Israeli military would begin a unilateral cease-fire in Gaza within hours while negotiations continued on how to stop the resupply of Hamas through smuggling from Egypt.
Mr. Olmert, who said all Israeli objectives for the war had been reached, said Israel was responding positively [...]

Israel said it was approaching the “endgame” of its three-week offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers and scheduled a Security Cabinet vote Saturday on a truce proposed by Egypt.
If Israel agrees to stop shooting, Israel radio said a truce summit would be held in Cairo Sunday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Israeli leaders expected to [...]

Israel’s Security Cabinet will vote Saturday night on an Egyptian proposal for a truce to end the 3-week-old offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, a senior government official said.
The official said a vote to approve the truce would amount to a “unilateral” cease-fire, though Israeli forces would only leave Gaza after an official declaration that the [...]

Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel and condemned Arab governments as allies of the Jewish state in a new message aimed at harnessing anger in the Mideast over the Gaza offensive.
Bin Laden spoke in an audiotape posted Wednesday on Islamic militant Web sites where al-Qaida usually issues its [...]

“We have failed, haven’t we?” our colleague from Gaza said over the phone, amid the sound of explosions.
For those of us engaged in “people to people” peace building, the latest violent chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is both tragic and surreal.
All around us, people remain convinced that the solution to the conflict depends on military [...]