Israel kills Gaza militant leader

24 August 2011 Last updated at 11:04 GMT The al-Quds Brigade leader was killed in the southern Gaza city of Rafah An Israeli air strike has killed a commander from the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli missile hit the car of Ismael al-Ismar, a leader of al-Quds Brigades in the city of Rafah, close to the Egyptian border.

Shortly afterwards, mortars were fired from northern Gaza into southern Israel. There were no injuries.

Violence between Israel and militants in Gaza has flared since a deadly attack on Israeli buses last week.

The Israeli military said its target in Wednesday's attack had been an activist implicated in weapons smuggling and militant operations in Egypt's Sinai region.

Fragile 'truce'

The BBC's Yolande Knell in Jerusalem says these exchanges threaten to undermine the informal ceasefire agreement that was announced by an official from Hamas, which governs Gaza, late on Sunday.

This was joined by smaller militant groups.

Al-Quds Brigade is the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad organisation.

On Monday, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) - agreed to halt rocket fire against Israel as a "temporary" measure "for the sake of the Palestinian people".

Earlier, Israel's army radio reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet had decided the military would stop its air strikes on Gaza if militants there halted their attacks.

Tensions rose rapidly after a series of shooting ambushes near the Red Sea resort of Eilat last Thursday, which killed eight Israelis.

The militants responsible are believed to have been Palestinians from Gaza who crossed from Egypt.

The leader of the PRC, which Israel blamed for the attack was among 15 Palestinians killed in subsequent air raids in Gaza.

Militant groups there responded by firing more than a hundred rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and cities. One man was killed.

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Israel and Hamas in 'Gaza truce'

22 August 2011 Last updated at 12:28 GMT A PRC spokesman said the truce was "temporary" Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group which governs the Gaza Strip, say they have agreed to a ceasefire after five days of violence.

The latest clashes began when militants crossed into southern Israel and killed eight Israelis on Thursday.

Subsequent Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed 15 Palestinians. One Israeli was killed in rocket fire from Gaza.

The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the UN, US, EU and Russia - has called for restraint.

Informal truce

A Palestinian official said that Hamas had agreed to ensure that the ceasefire was recognised by smaller militant groups in Gaza - which were responsible for most of the rockets fired at southern Israel in the past few days.

Prior to the announcement, Israeli media reported that 12 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel overnight. No injuries resulted.

But on Monday, Gaza's Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) - last to agree to the truce - agreed to halt rocket fire against Israel as a "temporary" measure "for the sake of the Palestinian people".

Earlier, Israel's army radio reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet had decided the military would stop its air strikes on Gaza if militants there halted their attacks.

Like similar arrangements in the past this is not a formal agreement, says the BBC's Yolande Knell in Jerusalem.

Tensions in and around Gaza have risen rapidly since Thursday's deadly shooting attacks in the Negev desert, when Palestinian gunmen shot dead eight Israelis near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.

Seven of the attackers and five Egyptian security personnel were killed as Israeli troops pursued the gunmen.

Israel also launched a wave of retaliatory air strikes against the PRC, killing 15 people in the Gaza Strip - including the leader of the PRC and several other militants. Civilians were also among the dead.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militants fired more than 100 rockets and mortars into Israel, killing one man in Beersheba and injuring dozens.

Thursday's incident has also led to a diplomatic dispute between Israel and Egypt. Cairo has called the killing of its five soldiers "unacceptable" and warned that it could recall its ambassador from Israel.

Israel said it "regretted" the deaths of the five Egyptians.

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Israel prepares Lieberman charges

13 April 2011 Last updated at 19:19 GMT Avigdor Lieberman has pledged to step down as both a minister and MP if he is charged Israel's attorney general is considering charging Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with corruption.

An indictment on charges of fraud, money laundering, breach of trust, and tampering with a witness was being drafted, the justice ministry said.

Mr Lieberman will have a chance to argue his case in a final hearing before a charge sheet is issued.

In a speech to members of his hard-line Yisrael Beiteinu party on Wednesday evening, he denied any wrongdoing.

"I know and you know that I always acted in accordance with the law, and there is no reason for worry," he said.

"After 15 years, I finally will have an opportunity to prove that I acted lawfully," he added. "As you know, with me my word is my bond."

He has pledged to step down as both a minister and MP if charged.

Yisrael Beiteinu is the second largest party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government and the third largest in parliament, and his dismissal or resignation could force an election.

Shell companies

In a statement, the Israeli justice minister said the allegations against Mr Lieberman involved "millions of dollars" and covered the period that he served as a member of parliament and minister of strategic affairs, between 2001 and 2008.

A final decision on whether to press charges would be taken only after Mr Lieberman had had an opportunity to respond to the allegations at a hearing with the attorney general, Yehuda Weinstein, it added.

Such a final hearing has yet to lead to the dropping of serious charges against a minister.

Mr Weinstein has been looking into Mr Lieberman's case for more than a year and a half, since police recommended charging the 52-year-old.

They believe he received more than $2.9m (£1.8m) from businessmen, which was allegedly laundered via a series of shell companies and fictitious bank accounts overseas.

The breach of trust allegation relates to the case of Israel's former ambassador to Belarus, who is said to have showed Mr Lieberman secret documents from the police investigation against him.

He will not be charged with bribery, as the police recommended.

If convicted of money laundering, he could face 10 years in prison.

Israel's leadership has been rocked by scandals in recent years.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned under a cloud of several corruption cases against him, and his finance minister is serving a prison term for embezzlement.

Last month, Former President Moshe Katsav was sentenced to seven years in prison for rape and other sex offences.

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Sudan air raid: 'Israel to blame'

6 April 2011 Last updated at 15:18 GMT The two victims of the air strike have not yet been named

Sudan has accused Israel of carrying out an air strike that killed two people in a car near the city of Port Sudan on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Ali Ahmad Karti said one man was Sudanese, but the identity of the other passenger was unknown.

There has been no comment from Israel. But correspondents say Israel believes weapons are being smuggled through the region to Gaza.

Mr Karti said the air strike was an attempt to damage Sudan's reputation.

It was intended to disrupt the process of removing Sudan from the list of states that sponsor terrorism, he added.

Washington this year initiated the process to remove Sudan from that list after a peaceful January referendum in which the country's south voted to secede.

Shadowy war

The car was hit about 15km (nine miles) south of Port Sudan on Tuesday.

Continue reading the main story Jonathan Marcus BBC diplomatic correspondent

Reports of the incident are contradictory and much remains speculation.

Nonetheless it looks as though this attack could be one more reminder of the shadowy war that is being waged along Sudan's Red Sea coast. The intelligence-gathering is constant. Engagements though are few and far between.

The struggle pits the Israeli military against well-organised arms smugglers seeking to get weaponry into the Gaza Strip.

Of course Israel is not the only country potentially responsible for the missile attack. The US too on occasion has fired missiles at alleged terror targets in Sudan.

But this attack against individuals who were clearly considered specific targets suggests a complex intelligence-driven operation. It could well have countering arms-smuggling as its goal.

There is confusion as to whether the car was hit by a plane, helicopters or a missile fired from outside Sudan.

Mr Karti said one of the victims was an innocent civilian and efforts were being made to discover the identity of the second man.

"The attack was carried out by Israel. We are absolutely sure of this," Mr Karti was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

So far no-one has claimed to have carried out the attack.

"We heard three loud explosions," a source at Port Sudan airport told Reuters news agency. "Eyewitnesses told us they saw two helicopters which looked like Apaches flying past."

The car had been travelling into the city from the airport, one Sudanese official said.

Gaza connection?

In 2009, the Sudanese authorities said a convoy of people smugglers was hit by unidentified aircraft in Sudan's eastern Red Sea state.

There was speculation at the time that the strike may have been carried out by Israel to stop weapons bound for Gaza.

The then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, appeared to give credence to the idea that Israel was involved in that attack, saying: "We operate everywhere where we can hit terror infrastructure - in close places and in places further away."

Israel has not commented on the latest incident.

The BBC's James Copnall in Sudan says Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip, is on good terms with Khartoum.

There has been an uneasy peace in eastern Sudan for several years, following one of Sudan's many civil wars.

But the region is very underdeveloped, even by Sudanese standards, and there are fears about increased illegal activity there, our correspondent says.

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