Unwilling to control its fighters, who fired scores of missiles into Israel at the end of their six-month ceasefire, Hamas gave Israel the provocation it needed to deliver a savage blow to the Palestinian enclave in Gaza. ...more

January 1, 2009

Gaza's deeply entrenched Hamas rulers won't be easily toppled, even by Israel's unprecedented bombings Saturday that killed more than 200 people, most of them men in Hamas uniform. ...more

December 28, 2008

Israel moved closer to invading Gaza, saying Thursday that it had wrapped up preparations for a broad offensive after Palestinian militants fired about 100 rockets and mortar shells across the border in two days. ...more

December 26, 2008

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Israel ran out of options in her efforts to form a government and decided her only choice would be to press for early elections, now likely to be scheduled for February, party officials said Saturday night. ...more

October 26, 2008

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's chances of hanging on to power amid a burgeoning corruption probe diminished Wednesday after the leader of his main coalition partner demanded he either step aside or face new elections. ...more

May 29, 2008

Ehud Barak, Israel's defense minister and the leader of the Labor Party, announced Sunday that he would remain in the government, stabilizing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition despite last week's harsh report on the political and military leaders' handling of the Lebanon war in 2006. ...more

February 4, 2008

Egyptian security forces began imposing control over the country's breached border with the Gaza Strip on Thursday, using clubs and dogs to police the thousands of Gazans still making their way past barricades blown up or toppled by Palestinian gunmen a day earlier. ...more

January 25, 2008

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Israel is not bound by a December 2008 target for a peace agreement set at last week's U.S.-hosted Mideast summit, telling his Cabinet that progress will depend on the Palestinians' ability to rein in militants. ...more

December 3, 2007

Israel began cutting vital fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip on Sunday, following through on a promise to step up pressure on the territory's Hamas rulers after months of Palestinian rocket attacks. ...more

October 29, 2007