Gaza, Gaza Strip News

Israel and Hamas appear to be moving closer to a prisoner swap in which Israel would release up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

A Hamas official who asked not to be quoted told the Monitor on Monday that Israel and Hamas would probably reach a deal by week's end. One of the Gaza newspapers closest to Hamas, al-Risala, reported that the swap was being delayed by disagreement over just one prisoner. Later in the day the family of Marwan Barghouti - a popular West Bank Fatah leader held by Israel since 2002 - claimed he would be released as part of the deal.

On Sunday Israel allowed 550 calves to be brought into Gaza for the Muslim Eid Al-Adha holiday when it is traditional for sheep and calves to be slaughtered.

Israel should end the blockade of Gaza, cease evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes, and ensure that the rights of children are respected and that all allegations of torture and ill-treatment are promptly investigated and perpetrators prosecuted, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an annual report released today.

I believe it is Egypt that is blockading the Gaza-Egypt border. But according t o this AFP photo caption , reprinted on Andrew's blog, it is Israel that is responsible for Egypt's border with Gaza: Palestinians smuggle sheep into the Gaza Strip through a tunnel under the Egypt-Gaza border in Rafah on November 15, 2009.

Today The Rory Peck Trust announced that the third annual Martin Adler Prize is being given jointly to three Gaza freelancers who have played a significant role in getting news stories out of their country.

On Tuesday, the day Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slipped while climbing into a sea commando's rubber dinghy, he also made several interesting statements.

Palestinian officials announced Friday that a new date for parliamentary and presidential elections will be set next month now that President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to postpone the January vote, though the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers maintain they will boycott the voting.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip a " Hamas announced Saturday evening that it has reached an agreement with other militant groups in Gaza to stop firing rockets at southern Israeli towns to prevent retaliatory attacks.Hamas has mostly refrained from firing rockets since January when Israel ended a three week offensive in Gaza aimed at stopping almost daily ...

Commenting on the raid, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday 'we strongly condemn these criminal acts, either in Gaza or the West Bank.

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Despite a Hamas crackdown, Al Qaida continues to grow in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians shout slogans and wave their national flag as they attend a rally commemorating the fifth anniversary of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Nov.

Following Ynet's report of the death of Samir al-Nadim, a 25-year-old heart patient who died after being transferred from Gaza to Nablus for surgery, officials in the Coordination and Liaison Authority in Gaza said that they intend to probe the incident.

Peace talks with Israel have failed and the Palestinians must launch popular and diplomatic campaigns to achieve statehood, Marwan Barghouti said in an interview from his prison cell.

Palestinian construction workers are seen at a large apartment building complex being built in the East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo yesterday Israel and Hamas reacted cautiously yesterday to reports a deal to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip might be concluded by the end of this month.

An Israeli judge made an historic ruling last week when he decided that an Arab teenager needed a oeprotectiona from the justice system and ordered that he not be convicted despite being found guilty of throwing stones at a police car during a protest against Israela s attack last winter on Gaza.

Jerusalem, Nov. 17 : The inflow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip has gone up by approximately 900 percent in 12 months, the IDF has said.

Hamas rejected Monday a Palestinian suggestion to seek UN Security Council support for unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians asked the European Union on Monday to back their plan to have the U.N. Security Council recognize an independent Palestinian state without Israeli consent.

IMEMC & Agencies: Palestinian medical sources reported Sunday that a farmer was wounded by Israeli fire east of Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians dance during a rally in the village of Beit Furik near the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday on the occasion of the anniversary of the symbolic November 15, 1988 declaration of independence by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat The Palestinians said yesterday they plan to ask for UN recognition of their independence, amid ...