TODAY 7/7 (8 am)
Nine Palestinian militants have been killed in Israeli air-strikes on Gaza. The attacks followed a wave of rocket fire from the enclave aimed at communities in southern Israel. Kevin Connolly reports from Jerusalem:
Last weekend there was speculation that some kind of ceasefire between Hamas and Israel may have been imminent. Any such prospect now seems remote after a weekend of intense rocket fire from Gaza and a series of overnight air-strikes from Israel. In the most serious of those strikes it's now reported that six Hamas fighters were killed after the Israeli air-force targeted what the militant group called "a gathering point" at the southern end of the Gaza Strip. A seventh Hamas member died in a separate strike and two other militants were killed in a third. Angry crowds gathered at the hospitals to which the bodies were taken and a Hamas spokesman warned that, in this words, Israel would "pay a price" for what he described as an "escalation".
WORLD AT ONE 7/7 (1 pm)
Israel has sent a rare direct message to Hamas, saying it wants to avoid a further escalation of tension after nine Palestinian militants were killed by Israeli air-raids on Gaza. The bombings followed rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel. Hamas has warned that Israel will pay for the deaths.
PM 7/7 (5 pm)
No mention.
WORLD TONIGHT 7/7 (10 pm)
No mention.
TODAY 8/7 (8 am)
Israel has carried out overnight air-strikes against dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Army says the operation is aimed at stopping a barrage of rockets fired from the territory. Our Middle East correspondent, Kevin Connolly, reports from Jerusalem:
Israel's overnight air-raids are said to have hit more than 50 targets inside the Gaza Strip, including training sites used by Hamas. Medical sources inside Gaza say a woman and two children were injured in the town of Khan Younis when the home of a Hamas militant was also targeted. A further six people were injured in the air-raids, which Israel now calls Operation Protective Edge. In the hours after the funerals of Hamas fighters killed in previous Israeli air-strikes, 85 rockets were fired at targets in Israel, with air-raid sirens sounding in many town and cities across the south of the country. Last week there was talk from both sides that calm would be answered by calm, and a ceasefire seemed to be within reach. But each now appears to have concluded that the immediate need to respond to fire from the other side outweighs the advantages of a temporary truce.
WORLD AT ONE 8/7 (1 pm)
Israel is continuing to bomb Gaza in defiance of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who has called for an immediate end to air-strikes. Israel said it was trying to stop rockets being fired from Gaza into towns in the south of the country. Defence sources said that the option of sending troops into Gaza was "not off the table".
