Egyptian foreign minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton announce a truce between Hamas and Israel. Photograph: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images
Egyptian foreign minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton announce a truce between Hamas and Israel. Photograph: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images
Mohamed Kamel Amr, Egyptian foreign minister
Egypt has made great efforts ... since the start of the latest escalation in the Gaza Strip. These efforts and contacts have resulted in understandings to cease fire and restore calm.
Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state
The US welcomes the agreement today for a ceasefire in Gaza – for it to hold the rocket attacks must end and a broader calm must return. The people of this region deserve the chance to live free of fear and violence.
After eight days of Israeli strikes, 58% of Israelis in a Channel 2 poll think the Gaza assault improved the country's "deterrence." Israeli officials said the conflict damaged Hamas and showed the strength of Israel's intelligence operation. The IDF declared that "after 8 days, IDF accomplished its goals in 'Pillar of Defense.'"
Prime minister Netanyahu and Likud are to stand for reelection in two months. Meanwhile the question of what the Gaza attack accomplished for the country is likely to grow. And that's assuming the current ceasefire, now just three hours old, holds.
Hamas appears to have suffered significant destruction to its missile launching capabilities, although rockets continued to fly out of Gaza until the end – in fact, as many as 12 rockets have been fired from Gaza since the ceasefire, Reuters reports.
Much of the infrastructure that held together daily life in Gaza, such as it was, has been destroyed. That infrastructure includes the headquarters of Hamas's Gaza chief, Ismail Haniyeh; the main security complex; a government compound housing branch offices of different ministries; the interior ministry; several police stations; a main north-south bridge and more. The water and electricity infrastructure has been damaged further. A list of destroyed sites is here.
The destruction of the infrastructure will hinder any attempt to attack Israel, as it will make everything harder inside Gaza for the foreseeable future, for everyone.
Meanwhile the human cost of the conflict has been terrible. The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has surpassed 160, according to lists of victim names. As of Tuesday, the civilian death toll stood at 91, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. At least 34 of those killed were children. Hundreds of children were wounded, including at least 88 under the age of 5, according to UNICEF.
Five died inside Israel, including four civilians, and at least four soldiers were wounded Wednesday. Israeli officials put the number of injured in the hundreds, a number that includes trauma from stress, which is not tracked in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces said 1,506 rockets in total were fired from Gaza since Nov. 14. The Iron Dome system intercepted 421. In return, the IDF said, 1,500 "terrorist sites" were targeted.
Hamas has, as Netanyahu asserted immediately after the ceasefire took effect, been crippled. But it is unclear what mechanism is now in place to prevent its regaining the ability to launch rockets deep into Israel. And if that simple capability has not changed, it's difficult to determine how the broader situation has.
Read our full coverage here. Guardian Middle East editor Ian Black asks how much has been achieved in the past week here.
As the evening wore on, crowds of Palestinians swarmed onto the streets around Gaza's main hospital, al Shifaa, waving Hamas and Islamic Jihad flags.
They chanted thanks to God and congratulated friends on surviving. Some fired into the air, which already traumatised patients could probably have done without. But the mood was celebratory and good humoured.
Cars and pick up trucks piled high with people and flags clogged the streets. Gaza City's notorious traffic jams were back.
Crowds of Hamas & Islamic Jihad supporters outside Gaza hospital honouring dead & wounded as marked the ceasefire twitter.com/ChrisMcGreal/s…
Little noticed by the celebrants was the tractor working its way down a side street towing a trailer packed with people, mattresses and bundles headed back to the homes they fled under Israeli tank fire and missiles. There was no cheering or flag waving. They just sat and stared, probably more relieved than celebratory.
Hamas policemen, who kept a low profile from the circling Israeli drones over the past week, were back out and visible.
It was impossible to hear whether the drones were still there for the horns, cheers and chants, occasional gunfire and periodic fireworks. But moving away from the crowds, the distinctive buzz of the drones picked up again.
For two hours a ceasefire has silenced a conflict that raged for eight days. But as many human rights advocates inside and outside of Gaza are pointing out, the Israeli siege that has afflicted the territory for five years stays in place.
The blockade has cut the territory off from the world, strangled its economy and endangered residents' access to water, electricity, medicine and other basic necessities.
Israel imposed the blockade, which it says is necessary to minimize weapons trafficking, after Hamas won elections and then a battle with Fatah to take control of Gaza in June 2007.
The United Nations has called the blockade "a collective punishment" and "a denial of basic human rights in contravention of international law.”
“Access to Gaza is a significant challenge under normal circumstances,” the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in a news release today, which described WFP activities:
As part of its regular monthly program to help feed 285,000 vulnerable people throughout the Gaza Strip, WFP said it began on Tuesday to deliver food to 30,000 people at six sites in Gaza. It is also supplying wheat flour to bakeries so that free bread can be given to people who have seen their homes destroyed.
“On Tuesday, four trucks with WFP food stocks attempted to enter via the Karem Shalom crossing, but had to turn back due to rocket fire,” WFP said of a crossing on the Gaza Strip-Israel-Egypt border.
“The viability of a future Palestinian state depends on a proper connection between the West Bank and Gaza, providing access to the Mediterranean for the entire occupied Palestinian territory,” the report states.
The ambassadors recalled from Israel and Egypt last week may be returned soon, Reuters' Dan Williams reports: "Diplomat tells me still no plan for Israel and Egypt to return their respective ambassadors but 'hopefully it will happen very soon'."
The AFP reports that NATO will consider "without delay" a request from member Turkey for a deployment of surface-to-air Patriot missiles to protect its troubled border with Syria, Alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday.
"I have received a letter from the Turkish government requesting the deployment of Patriot missiles," Rasmussen said in a statement.
"Such a deployment would augment Turkey's air defence capabilities to defend the population and territory of Turkey. It would contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along NATO's south-eastern border.
"And it would be a concrete demonstration of alliance solidarity and resolve," the statement said. "Nato will discuss the Turkish request without delay."
The Guardian's Chris McGreal is in Gaza, where former PFLP leader Talal Okal says that the conflict has succeeded in ending the international isolation of Hamas:
Part of the lesson some Gazans are taking home from the events of recent days is that resistance to Israel gets the Palestinians further than negotiation. Some Hamas supporters are comparing what they regard as the concessions wrung from Israel to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' failure to make any progress toward the establishment of a Palestinian state by renouncing violence and committing himself to negotiation.
Talal Okal was for many years among the leaders in Gaza of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian - a secular, left wing organisation and decidedly different to Hamas.
"I am anti-Hamas," Okal said. "I am democratic. I am secular. But I admire what Hamas has done because they showed they were working underground secretly to challenge the Israelis. Now we are facing Israel from a better position. We don't have a balance of power with Israel. But now because of Hamas we have influence and that makes a better situation."
Okal said that the confrontation of the past week has broken the international isolation of Hamas led by the US and Europe. Senior ministers from Egypt, Turkey and other countries came to Gaza City and spoke bluntly against Israel for the first time since Yasser Arafat was the Palestinian leader.
Regev rejects notion that Jabari was key to enforcing Gaza peace
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev appears on Al-Jazeera, where he is asked about Ahmed al-Jabari, whose assassination kicked off the 8-day conflict.
Regev is asked about a New York Times editorial by Israeli peace negotiator Gershon Baskin titled "Israel’s Shortsighted Assassination," in which Baskin called the decision to kill Jabari "a grave and irresponsible strategic error":
Mr. Jabari wasn’t just interested in a long-term cease-fire; he was also the person responsible for enforcing previous cease-fire understandings brokered by the Egyptian intelligence agency. Mr. Jabari enforced those cease-fires only after confirming that Israel was prepared to stop its attacks on Gaza.
Speaking on Al-Jazeera, Regev rejected out of hand the notion that Jabari was a key player in holding a peace deal together.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev in a screen grab from Al-Jazeera. Photograph: Al-Jazeera Photograph: /Al-Jazeera
"Well I think it was clear that when he was around that he wasn't really controlling things," Regev said, because hundreds of rockets were being launched.
As for Baskin, "I don't share his information," Regev said. "The facts are clear. When [Jabari] was in charge, we had many many rockets, we didn't have peace."
The Guardian's Chris McGreal interviews revelers in Gaza:
On a street running along the Gaza City waterfront, three young men - one armed - were celebrating. They waved at a man driving by blowing his horn. Above their heads a loudspeaker on a mosque repeated over and over: Allahu Akbar.
Part of the celebration is relief that, hopefully, the eight days and nights of bombing and shelling are now at an end and people can sleep safely. Or sleep at all.
But there is also a mood of victory.
"Israel begged for a ceasefire because it could not stop our rockets," said Adel Mansour, who was without a gun. "They bombed us, they killed our women and children, but they could not stop the resistance. So they had to surrender and agree to stop the assassinations. They learned we cannot be defeated by their bombs."
That is not an uncommon view in Gaza. Certainly support for Hamas has strengthened in recent days because it has been seen to stand up to Israel. There is not much debate about the cost in lives.
"Our martyrs are the price we must pay," said Mansour. "But it is the Israelis who have their blood on their hands."
When is Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas due to speak? No one seems to be asking. Abbas did not play a significant role in negotiating the ceasefire. Hamas ignored him. Foreign leaders such as Clinton and Ban visited, but the meetings had more than the usual air of diplomatic redundancy. Abbas was the non-leader of the conflict.
At the start of the conflict Abbas said he would move forward with his plan to seek non-member state status for Palestine at the UN General Assembly meeting a week from tomorrow, Nov. 29.
Abbas has not indicated whether he still plans to take the step, which Israel regards as a flagrant provocation.
My Twitter feed variously informs me that the real winners today are Israel, Hamas, Egypt, the US and Iran. (but everyone agrees Abbas lost)
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is speaking in a news conference in Cairo. He says that Hamas has scored a victory after eight days of fighting.
He calls the Israeli assault "a despicable aggression against the people in Gaza" that killed civilians and fighters.
"We had to react," he says, echoing Netanyahu.
"I cannot deny that [Israeli forces] have done a lot," he says. "We can't count how many buildings they have destroyed in Gaza. This is their achievement. And the missiles were falling until the last minute."
"The Israeli conspiracy has failed," he says. "They wanted an election propaganda and they wanted to test Egypt," but fell short, Meshaal says.
Meshaal praises Egypt's role, saying it "has dealt with the resistance quite responsibly and the way it should."
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal speaks in Cairo Wednesday, in a screen grab from Al-Jazeera. Photograph: Al-Jazeera Photograph: /Al-Jazeera
The Guardian's Chris McGreal is in Gaza and has this report on the scene immediately following the ceasefire deadline:
Within minutes of the ceasefire kicking in, gunmen emerged on the streets of Gaza City to celebrate with long bursts of gunfire, cheering and chanting of victory slogans. Despite a warning from Hamas controlled TV and radio not to go out on the streets until it is clear the ceasefire was holding, young men who had not dared venture on to the streets with their weapons in recent days once again emerged waving their guns. Some people fired fireworks from rooftops. Others drove through the city with their hands on their horns.
Right to the 9pm deadline for the ceasefire to kick in, Gaza City continued to be rocked by very large blasts. At least one person was killed in the final minutes of fighting.
The ceasefire brought relief at an end to the rising death toll which has been far higher in Gaza than in Israel. But while the cost has been higher for the Palestinians, many in Gaza are claiming the truce as a victory.
They say Israel provoked the escalation with the assassination of the Hamas military chief because the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, wanted the conflict to bolster his chances of reelection in January. They credit the Hamas resistance - through the barrage of rockets into Israel - as having deterred a ground invasion and forced the Israelis into an agreement to stop targeted assassinations.
Whether it still looks that way in time is another matter.
There is little desire among Gazans to talk about human cost of battle with Israelis. This is not the place and this is not the time for public expression of doubt about "resistance."
For all the destruction of the last eight days, the relationship between Israel and Egypt appears to have emerged intact (insofar as the parties to the ceasefire truly have "emerged" from anything).
That didn't look like it would necessarily be the case a week ago, when Egypt first announced that prime minister Kandil would visit Gaza amid the Israeli assault and president Morsi faced intense domestic pressure to make a show of breaking from Mubarak's policy of not challenging Israel.
Tonight, several observers raised their eyebrows at the fact that the hawkish Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman singled out Morsi, as a Muslim Brotherhood leader seemingly anathema to Lieberman, for praise.
Never thought I'd see the day Lieberman thanks Morsi for anything
Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu is speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem.
He says "we started this operation because of rocket fire." The strikes destroyed thousands of Hamas installations, he said, with international support.
He says Iran was responsible for arming Hamas and that Obama had agreed that more must be done to stop the arms movement.
Netanyahu singled out Obama for his support. "Special thanks to president Obama for his unwavering support for Israel, and for supporting Iron Dome."
"That is what a responsible government does, and that is what we did in this case too.
"I know there are those who expected a more intense military response, and that may be needed, but at this time the best thing for Israel" is to take this opportunity to achieve a long-term ceasefire.
Netanyahu salutes the citizens of Israel. "I am proud to be your prime minister."
A ceasefire deal for Gaza is to take effect at 9pm local time (2pm EST). Text of the deal is here. The deal was announced by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Egyptian foreign minister Mohammed Kamel Amr in a news conference in Cairo. It was confirmed by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
The deal calls on Israel to "stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip, land, sea and air, including incursions and targeting of individuals." It call on "all Palestinian factions" to "stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel, including rocket attacks and all attacks along the border."
Rocket fire and Israeli strikes continued after the announcement of the deal, in advance of the 9pm deadline.
President Obama spoke with Netanyahu on the phone and 'commended' him for accepting the deal, the White House announced. Obama called Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and thanked him for his role.
At least nine people have been killed in Gaza today, including 2 children, bringing the death toll to at least 141 in Gaza since Nov. 14. The fatalities count, from the Sabbah report, is believed to be a conservative estimate.
AFP publishes the text of the ceasefire agreement set to take effect at 1900 GMT:
"Israel shall stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip land sea and air, including incursions and targeting of individuals.
"All Palestinian factions shall stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel, including rocket attacks and all attacks along the border.
"Opening the crossings and facilitating the movement of people and transfer of goods and refraining from restricting residents' free movements and targeting residents in border areas. Procedures of implementation shall be dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire.
"Other matters as may be requested shall be addressed."
"Implementation mechanism.
"Setting up the zero hour understanding to enter into effect.
"Egypt shall receive assurances from each party that the party commits to what was agreed upon.
"Each party shall commit itself not to perform any acts that would breach this understanding. In case of any observations, Egypt as a sponsor of this understanding, shall be informed to follow up."
Second phase of ceasefire talks to address underlying issues
If the initial phase of the ceasefire holds – if rocket attacks stop and Israel holds fire – an "ongoing dialogue will start within 24 hours" covering underlying issues of concern to both parties, an Israeli government source tells the Guardian's Harriet Sherwood.
[Those issues] include the further relaxation of border restrictions and targeted assassinations.
On borders, he said: "These restrictions were imposed in the framework of hostilities." In the absence of hostilities, they may no longer be necessary.
Targeted assassinations, he added, were "an irrelevant question". "If they are not attacking us, we don't need to shoot them."
Two other issues to be discussed in further talks were the re-arming of militant groups and the Israeli-imposed buffer zone inside the Gaza border. "The buffer zone was only introduced in the framework of hostilities."
He added: "If there is a total and complete cessation of hostile activity, and if it is kept, we have achieved our goal of peace and quiet in the south."
UPDATE: Targeted assassinations are part of the broader negotiations. An earlier headline to this post suggested that was not the case.
President Obama has once again spoken on the phone with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, thanking him "for his efforts to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and for his personal leadership in negotiating a ceasefire proposal," the White House announced in a statement. The statement continues:
President Morsi expressed appreciation for President Obama’s efforts in this regard.
President Obama and President Morsi agreed on the importance of working toward a more durable solution to the situation in Gaza.
President Obama reaffirmed the close partnership between the United States and Egypt, and welcomed President Morsi's commitment to regional security.
The US has been explicit in its call for Egypt to continue to be a force for regional "stability" – meaning a friend to the United States. Here's how Clinton put it: "Egypt's new government is assuming a role of responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone of regional stability and peace."
In the present chapter Morsi appears to be playing the part. It is unclear to what extent the ceasefire deal may have been based on Egyptian guarantees to help keep arms out of Gaza.
Netanyahu, Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman are to make statements at a news conference at 20.30 Israel time (18.30 GMT), Harriet Sherwood reports.
Also scheduled to make a statement at that time: Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.
The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland says "a little sigh of relief" at the ceasefire announcement may be in order:
The sensible thing to do is to say nothing, to hold your breath and wait. Not just till the ceasefire begins at 1900 GMT, but after then too - to wait and see if this actually holds. Already one Israeli cabinet minister, Silvan Shalom, is quoted saying "the test will come with the first missile that hits us." That's bleak, but true. And Gazans will feel the same way, reserving judgement to see if Israel does indeed hold its fire after the deadline.
Even if both sides do pause, that too might not amount to much - not if it's merely a de-escalation of 72 hours which is then followed by a resumption of hostilities. So no one should be celebrating too early.
That said, it's legitimate to let out a little sigh of relief. The absence of air strikes and rocket attacks, however fragile, is better than the persistence of air strikes and rocket attacks. Just ask the people of Gaza City or Ashkelon.
Worth watching closely will be the competing press conferences due to start soon, with Israeli and Hamas leaders both due to speak at 6.30GMT. Now comes, we hope, the diplomatic phase of this conflict. Will one side try to boast that the other has climbed down on this or that point, only for the other to insist they have done no such thing, thereby pushing both back to the brink again? Most likely is that both sides will try to cast themselves as the outright winner who has brought defeat on the other. That's inevitable - so long as neither push it too far.
Immediate political winners. Binyamin Netanyahu will get credit with foreign leaders for not going ahead with a threatened ground offensive, especially on the day a Tel Aviv bus was bombed. Hillary Clinton will be hailed as an effective peacemaker, jetting in and getting a result. And Egypt will have hugely increased its clout and prestige for achieving this truce. All of that applies - I repeat - only if this holds.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Egyptian foreign minister Mohammed Amr give a joint news conference announcing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Cairo. Photograph:AP/Egyptian state TV Photograph: Anonymous/AP
Guardian Middle East editor Ian Black has further details of the agreement just announced:
The agreement that was reached in Cairo reportedly requires Israel to end “incursions and assassinations” but it does not go beyond that to address longer-term humanitarian, economic, and political problems.
Palestinians had hoped that a ceasefire would be followed by an easing or lifting of the blockade of Gaza, which has been in force for the last five years. The territory is controlled from the sea and air by Israel. It also controls all land borders except the southern strip near Rafah which marks Gaza’s border with Egypt.
If confirmed, failure to address that question will certainly take the shine off the achievement.
Nor was it clear either whether Egypt had agreed privately to do anything to control the flow of weapons via the network of tunnels from its territory into Gaza. Israel has been insisting that it wants to see action from Egypt and the wider international community to curb the flow of arms from Libya and Sudan via Egypt.
Obama 'commended' Netanyahu for 'agreeing to Egyptian proposal'
President Obama has spoken with Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu to "reiterate his commitment to Israel’s security," according to a White House statement passed on by my colleague Ewen MacAskill. The statement reads:
The President made clear that no country can be expected to tolerate rocket attacks against civilians.
The President expressed his appreciation for the Prime Minister’s efforts to work with the new Egyptian government to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and a more durable solution to this problem.
The President commended the Prime Minister for agreeing to the Egyptian ceasefire proposal – which the President recommended the Prime Minster do – while reiterating that Israel maintains the right to defend itself.
The President said that the United States would use the opportunity offered by a ceasefire to intensify efforts to help Israel address its security needs, especially the issue of the smuggling of weapons and explosives into Gaza.
The President said that he was committed to seeking additional funding for Iron Dome and other US-Israel missile defense programs.
Egypt's foreign minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, US secretary of etate Hillary Clinton and Egypt's president Mohamed Mursi meet at the presidential palace in Cairo on 21 November 2012, before the ceasefire was announced. Photograph: Reuters Photograph: HANDOUT/Reuters
"There is no substitute for a just and lasting peace," Clinton says. "Now that there is a cease-fire, I am looking forward to working with the foreign minister and others to move this process."
Clinton: Egypt's new government is assuming a role of leadership
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is speaking in a news conference with Amr about the ceasefire announcement.
Notably absent from the news conference is president Mohamed Morsi.
Clinton emphasizes the Egyptian role in reaching a ceasefire deal, which has not been described in detail.
"This is a critical moment for the region," Clinton says. "Egypt's new government is assuming a role of responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone of regional stability and peace."
"The US welcomes the agreement today for a ceasefire in Gaza - for it to hold the rocket attacks must end and a broader calm must return."
"The people of this region deserve the chance to live free of fear and violence," she says.
"In the days ahead the US will work with partners across the region to consolidate this progress, improve conditions for the people of Gaza, provide security for the people of Israel."
"President Morsi and I discussed how the United States and Egypt can work together to support the next steps."
The Guardian's Harriet Sherwood is in Jerusalem. "There is intense speculation here," she writes, "that Israel is to announce a ceasefire in the next few hours":
The inner cabinet of nine senior ministers has just finished meeting amid unconfirmed reports that it agreed to halt its offensive on Gaza.
But reports were conflicting. Some sources said Israel would announce a unilateral ceasefire without agreeing to Hamas's demands - principally a relaxation of the blockade on Gaza - and would only discuss other issues once rocket fire had completely stopped.
Others suggested a deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas, which may include some of the elements which have hampered talks in the past couple of days.
An Israeli source told the Guardian that a significant development was expected in the coming hours.
Jacky Rowland is working from a hotel where Al-Jazeera English moved its operation after having to abandon its offices where windows were blown out by Israeli strikes.
Details said to be part of a possible cease-fire taking shape in Cairo are beginning to emerge.
The truce, which Reuters says has been confirmed by an Egyptian official, is described not as a "deal" or "agreement" but as two unilateral cease-fires.
The mutually unilateral move is said to carry no conditions such as the end of the siege of Gaza, the end of targeted assassinations in Gaza or Hamas disarmament.
A news conference to include US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is scheduled for 1pm ET/8pm local time in Cairo.
David Kenner is an editor at Foreign Policy magazine.
In all seriousness, two "unilateral" ceasefires sounds like the sides agreed to de-escalate the conflict in stages, rather than one big leap
The IDF announces it has targeted more than 50 "terrorist sites" today, including rocket launch sites, tunnels and a "Hamas command centre".
Israel says it has hit 1,450 targets in Gaza since 14 November. Reuters has compiled a list of some of the targets demolished in Gaza in the last week:
The headquarters of Hamas's Gaza chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who is also the prime minister of the group's Gaza authority.
The main security complex, known as the Saraya.
A sprawling Hamas government compound housing branch offices of different ministries.
The Hamas-run interior ministry, destroyed along with civil affairs offices that documented Gaza civilians.
Several police stations, evacuated before the fighting by police who redeployed elsewhere.
Military training camps, also evacuated and located mostly outside residential areas.
A main bridge on the Gaza coastal road, connecting Gaza City with the rest of the enclave.
Dozens of houses and apartment blocks, including one in which nine members of the same family were killed.
The house of Essam Al-Daalees, a political adviser to Hamas's Gaza prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.
Gunmen on motorcycles and in cars.
Fields and open spaces suspected of concealing buried rocket launchers, often hit with large bombs. Also a possible move to churn up land ahead of any ground invasion.
The Islamic National Bank, suspected by Israel of acting as a financial arm of Hamas, something bank officials deny.
The Syrian army has killed at least 25 opposition fighters and ended weeks of siege of its Cheikh Souleimane base near Turkey, about 25km north-west of Aleppo, Le Nouvel Observateur reports.
Seen at a protest in Hebron in the West Bank earlier today, the flag of the Syrian opposition.
Palestinian supporters of the Islamist movement Hamas wave their flag and a pre-Baath Syrian flag, during a demonstration in the West Bank city of Hebron, 21 November 2012, to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Photograph: ABED AL HASHLAMOUN/EPA Photograph: ABED AL HASHLAMOUN/EPA
Palestinian medical officials say 34 children have been killed in Gaza.
According to the Sabbah report, one of several sites keeping a list of names of people killed in Gaza in the last week, 28 children and 16 women were among the 141 killed since 14 November.
UN OCHA chief Ramesh Rajasingham estimates at least 70 of the 150 plus people killed in #Gaza since wed are civilians.
Top Israeli ministers have ruled out a unilateral ceasefire after a meeting of the nine-member inner council headed by prime minister Netanyahu, according to the Times of Israel.
Tom McCarthy taking over here in New York. My colleague Peter Beaumont in Cairo says that talks towards a ceasefire over Gaza are still going on in the Egyptian capital:
Hilary Clinton is locked in a meeting with the Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi. She had been expected to give a statement this afternoon but an expected press conference has been pushed back.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who has also been involved in talks in Cairo with Morsi today after returning to Egypt from Israel, indicated the levels of difficulty involved in the talks, emerging to say there were "many details to work out" before a ceasefire could be reached to end the conflict.
"I am particularly concerned about the spiral of violence at the time of intense efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel," Ban said.
Speaking after a meeting with President Morsi, whose country is trying to forge a truce, he said: "We all know there are many details to work out. But while that happens civilians continue to die."
There have been fresh strikes against Gaza in the wake of today's bus bombing in Tel Aviv, according to resident Issam Fouad.
Speaking to Mona Mahmood he said the bombing was a warning to the Israelis and a sign of growing anger among Palestinians. He said:
Lots of people in Gaza were relieved by the bus explosion. We do not want to see civilians killed, but we hope Israeli forces will recognise how tough the Palestinian resistance is.
We hope it will deter them from expanding their aggression against Gaza. We want to feel that there is a balance in force.
It is good to know that we have lots of rockets and we can defend ourselves against any aggression. I believe the bus explosion was a response to repeated crimes by the Israeli forces against the Palestinian civilians. People can't stand it any more, they can’t contain their anger.
Within an hour of the bus explosion in Tel Aviv, Israeli planes began to launch heavy shelling against many districts in Gaza.
F16s even attacked the public library. A 13-year-boy was killed in the bombardment.
We’ve heard a lot of a talk about a truce but in reality there’s been an escalation in the military operation. And there’s no end in sight.
I do not think Hillary Clinton can do anything but we have hope in Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. He should be able to get a deal between the Israeli government and Hamas as he can speak to both sides.
We have eight children at home and as soon as they hear the sound of the planes they begin to cry and run to me, their mother and their grandparents, to hide their heads. They think if they hug me they will be safe. Some of them become hysterical and wet themselves.
Yesterday leaflets were dropped by the Israeli planes telling us to leave our districts at once and head to the city centre, claiming there will be a military operations soon. But we won't go anywhere. It is psychological warfare to make us feel restless.
The situation in Gaza now is completely different from 2008. The resistance is more solid and organised.
Last night diplomats in Cairo were saying a Gaza ceasefire was in the bag. Peter Beaumont explains how the deal unravelled.
Both sides were facing internal opposition to the proposed ceasefire.
In Israel, according to some reports, a cabinet split saw the defence minister, Ehud Barak, prepared to accept the ceasefire originally on offer while the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, were opposed.
That split, some analysts have speculated, may have as much to do with Israel's internal politics, with an election on the horizon, as the substance of any deal.
On the Palestinian side the argument was even more complicated, pitting factions within Hamas who were happy to accept a ceasefire against hardliners around Mohamed Deif, Hamas's military commander, and other groups who seek an immediate lifting of the blockade and opening of the Rafah border crossing.
Clashes in Cairo between protesters and police continued for the third day after a key anniversary, writes Abdel-Rahman Hussein from the Egyptian capital.
The demonstration began on Monday to mark the first anniversary of a battle on Mohamed Mahmoud street that left 45 dead.
Since then scores have been injured and teargas has been widely use against protesters. There have been 118 arrests, over 100 injured including Gaber Salah, a member of the April 6 movement who is not expected to recover.
Offices of the broadcaster al-Jazeera were firebombed during today's clashes.
Thousands of people were injured in last year's battle, including many with eye injuries due to police forces aiming birdshot at protesters. Only one policeman is on trial for last year's incident. He has been dubbed the "eye sniper". A verdict is expected in December.
Egyptian protesters run past a bonfire during clashes with security forces in Cairo on Wednesday. Photograph: Ahmed Gomaa/AP Photograph: Ahmed Gomaa/AP
A doctor at Gaza's Shifa hospital went to treat a six-year-old boy who turned out to be his dead son, according to the BBC's Paul Danahar citing Gaza health minister.
He names the boy and the father.
Boys name was Abdul Rahman Naaem.Father is Doctors Majdi at Shifa hospital in #Gaza
AFP said the boy was killed during a strike on its offices.
A Palestinian man carries the body of Abdul Rahman Majdi Naaem. He was killed in a second Israeli strike on the building housing AFP'S Gaza offices, Hamas health officials said. Photograph: MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has convened a nine-member inner council to discuss a possible truce and ministers are optimistic it could begin tonight, says Dan Williams, from Reuters, citing IDF radio.
A UN aid agency says 10,000 internally-displaced Gazans have sought shelter in UN-run schools after the Israeli military dropped leaflets on the territory warning residents in certain areas to evacuate their homes, AP reports:
Adnan Abu Hassna, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency, said that 12 schools are providing shelter. He says the influx began on Tuesday evening, after Israel dropped the leaflets over Gaza. The Israeli military has not given a reason for the warning, but many here fear it is the prelude to a possible ground offensive. Israeli ground troops last entered Gaza four years ago, during a previous offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, leaving a widespread devastation. UN compounds are seen as safer than ordinary homes, though some were also hit in 2009.
Families gathering at UN school in Gaza - it's place they feel safest, but when we were there 3 rockets landed nearby twitter.com/RaynerSkyNews/…
Many Palestinians feel those kind of attacks are legitimate although there are a few more questions in their minds about putting bombs on buses packed with civilians. But in the present circumstances, where you have quite a lot of civilians being killed in Gaza, there is a feeling that this is quid pro quo, it is a legitimate form of hitting back. There was a little bit of gunfire around when the news came in, which was probably celebratory.
Asked if it made a ground invasion more likely, Chris said:
There is a sense that it will complicate the ceasefire negotiations particularly if it is discovered that Hamas had a direct hand in it. If it is found to be a less significant organisation, that may give the Israelis a bit more leeway in how they react to it.
If the ceasefire negotiations fail a ground invasion is considered more likely, he added.
Today Chris witnessed the smouldering remains of a civil administration building hit by six to eight Israeli missiles.
The attack scattered paperwork such as birth certificates, identity cards and passport applications, he said. “It means life is going to get that little bit more difficult for a lot of people in Gaza, because they won’t have the paperwork [for] daily life," Chris said.
The building was completely wiped out as was the home of a leading banker who had been a minister in the former Fatah-run government. It is not clear why his house was targeted. There was nobody in it. He heard the missile coming and ran for his life. It would suggest that they [the Israelis] are going after administrative and economic targets now as well as military ones.
Overnight a strike from a Israeli naval ship landed in the kind of open area where Israel suspect Hamas militants launch rockets, Chris confirmed. The explosions shattered the windows of hotels in the area, and appeared to have burst a water main, he said.
A Palestinian man walks among debris after an Israeli missile strike at a nearby Hamas government complex known as Abu Khadra in Gaza City on Wednesday. Photograph: Bernat Armangue/AP Photograph: Bernat Armangue/AP
The building housing AFP's Gaza office has been hit for a second time, one of its reporters says. Sara Hussein says one person (not an AFP employee) was killed.
-- @afp alert: the building housing our #Gaza office hit in a 2nd #Israel strike. One person killed, health officials say. @afp staff safe
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has met Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi to discuss a possible truce in Gaza, Egypt's official news agency reported (via Reuters).
Clinton had already met the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, today in her attempts to bring an end to the violence.
The talks in Cairo were attended by Egypt's foreign minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and the US ambassador, the Mena news agency reported.
An air strike on a building housing an Islamic Jihad office in Gaza City has killed a six-year-old boy who was in the street at the time, reports the BBC's Jon Donnison, citing doctors at Shifa hospital.
Latest strike in #Gaza city hit building with Islamic Jihad office. Doctors at Shifa hospital say 6 year old boy killed and 2 injured.
The White House has released the following statement on the bus bomb in Tel Aviv:
The United States condemns today’s terrorist attack on a bus in Tel Aviv. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those injured, and with the people of Israel. These attacks against innocent Israeli civilians are outrageous. The United States will stand with our Israeli allies, and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack. The United States reaffirms our unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security and our deep friendship and solidarity with the Israeli people.
Emergency services rush to the scene of an explosion on a bus on 21 November, 2012 in central Tel Aviv, Israel. Photograph: Getty Images Photograph: Getty Images
Moussa Abu Marzouk, in comments posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday, urged the Islamist Hamas administration ruling Gaza to ensure that no one takes the law into their own hands.
"Punishing collaborators and especially those involved in the killing of our leaders must only be carried out in accordance with the law and through the legal procedures," Abu Marzouk said.
Citing an unidentified security source, Hamas's al-Aqsa radio station said the six men were shot dead on Tuesday after being "caught red-handed" working for Israel, which has battered Gaza with air strikes for the past eight days in an offensive it says is meant to stop rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave. "They possessed hi-tech equipment and filming equipment to take footage of positions," al-Aqsa radio station said.
The BBC's Jon Donnison was reporting live from Gaza when multiple very loud air strikes hit. They were targeting the football stadium, from which rockets are fired.
Pope Benedict XVI has said he is praying for victims of the conflict between Israel and Gaza militants and urged leaders on both sides to make "courageous decisions" to end the bloodshed. He told pilgrims and tourists at his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square:
I appeal to the authorities on both sides to take courageous decisions in favour of peace and bring an end to a conflict with negative repercussions on the entire Middle East, which is already tormented by too many conflicts and so in need of peace and reconciliation.
The bus bombing in Tel Aviv makes a halt to the Israeli offensive in Gaza less likely, Harriet Sherwood reports from the scene of the blast.
Asked if the attack increased the chances of a ground invasion she said:
I think this is very, very serious for the situation in Gaza. Although efforts, particularly by the Americans, will continue to broker a ceasefire in Gaza. I think it is going to be very hard for the Israeli government to stop their offensive in Gaza if civilians in Tel Aviv are being injured or worse in bus bombings.
The bombed bus is close to the headquarters of the Israeli military in Tel Aviv, she added.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Harriet the authorities believe the device was left on the bus, and was not detonated by a suicide bomber. “He said it was very clear this was a terrorist attack,” Harriet said.
A witness told Harriet that it reminded her of the period when there were regular bus bombings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
This is very evocative and powerful for Israelis who went through terrible scenes in the past with people being killed and injured on buses. She said ‘it reminded me of previous attacks. It’s very frightening. I thought the war was in the south. I didn’t expect it to happen here.'
There are unconfirmed reports that Hamas has claimed responsibility for the blast, Harriet added.
This Guardian video includes footage of attacks on Gaza and Rishon LeZion, as well as the joint press conference held by Hillary Clinton and Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
An Israeli plane bombed the vacated house of a top adviser to Hamas's prime minister, local residents told Reuters.
An Israeli warplane first fired a warning missile towards the house of Essam al-Daalees, who works closely with Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Shortly afterwards it scored a direct hit on the building, in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, flattening the property. Medics reported that one passerby was wounded, adding that the house had been evacuated earlier.
At least 15 people were wounded in the bus explosion in Tel Aviv, Israeli police said.
"We believe it was a terrorist attack," a spokesman for Israeli police told al-Jazeera. He said three people were moderately to seriously injured, and 15 people were being treated at the scene.
Road blocks have been set up around the area, he added.
IDF spokeswoman Avital Leibovich tweets:
A bus explodes under my Tel Aviv office. Possibly due to a bomb or suicide bomber. Hearing the sirens of the ambulances.
The destroyed Hamas government complex known as Abu Khadra after an Israeli air strike on Wednesday. Photograph: Bernat Armangue/AP Photograph: Bernat Armangue/AP
Overnight strikes against a Hamas government complex have reduced the building to rubble.
Also reduced to smoking rubble Gaza admin complex which formerly Israeli occupation civil admin office. Another non military target
Hillary Clinton has a busy day. After meeting Abbas and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat in Ramallah, she is holding a second round of talks with the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, defence minister Ehud Barak and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman.
Last night Lieberman said Israel should avoid a ground invasion.
"There is no point embarking on such a dramatic move two months before elections after we didn't do it for four years," he told the Ynet web site.
Haaretz reporter Barak Ravid said the meeting was due to start half an hour ago.
SecState Clinton will meet on 11:00 for 2nd time with PM Netanyahu, FM Lieberman & MoD Barak before leaving to Egypt
Next Clinton is due to travel to Cairo for talks with Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, according to the BBC's Jon Donnison. But the timings he gives sound ambitious (she can't be in two places at once).
President Morsi, Hilary Clinton and Ban Ki Moon expect to meet in Cairo around 1045 GMT although timings could slip. #Gaza#Israel
Air strikes and rocket fire continue with houses hit on both sides of the border. The Israel Defence Forces told the BBC they have hit 100 targets across Gaza since midnight and intercepted 12 out of 29 missiles launched towards Israel from Gaza.
I think we are probably still very close to a ceasefire. Hillary Clinton is coming into Cairo today. She was in Jerusalem last night and was apparently involved in talks till quite late and there's a general expectation that she's not going to want to leave the region empty handed.
Another indicator has been quotes that have been attributed to Lieberman this morning in the Israeli press. He's saying that there won't be a ground invasion despite the deadline till Thursday to agree a ceasefire or have a ground invasion. In fact he's quoted as saying he wouldn't anticipate anything like that till after the Israeli election [in January], which seems to rule that out.
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But it seemed that each side had steep demands of a longer-term deal that the other side would reject.
Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader, said in Cairo that Israel needed to end its blockade of Gaza. Israel says the blockade keeps arms from entering the coastal strip.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, said Israel saw no point in an arrangement that offered Hamas what he called “a timeout to regroup” without long-term guarantees involving the United States and Egypt. Some Israeli officials have spoken of a bigger buffer zone along the Gaza border.
Israel stepped up its bombardment of Gaza from air and sea overnight with munitions slamming into Gaza at a rate of one every 10 minutes at one point. Gazan rocket fire resumed before dawn today with six launches, Israel said. No one was hurt.
More than 130 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the Israeli military offensive against Gaza. Medical officials in Gaza said 31 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, taking the total to 138, including 34 children. The Sabbah report put the number of dead at 132.
Two Israelis were killed on Tuesday, a soldier and a civilian contractor. Their deaths brought the total number of Israelis killed by Gazan rocket fire since the start of the Israeli military operation to five.
Hamas executed six suspected informants for Israel on a Gaza street on Tuesday. The Hamas military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam, claimed responsibility in a large handwritten note attached to a nearby electricity pole. Hamas said the six were killed because they gave Israel information about fighters and rocket launching sites.
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