AFP - Hamas vowed revenge on Saturday after Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed a senior militant and wounded eight other people.

AP - Israeli warplanes fired missiles at five targets across Gaza, killing a senior commander of the Hamas military wing and wounding 11 people, the group said Saturday.

Reuters - Israel carried out air strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday after a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory exploded in the city of Ashkelon, witnesses said.

Reuters - Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met Lebanon's rival leaders on Friday to stave off a crisis over a tribunal that may indict Hezbollah members in the killing of Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri.

AFP - Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal slammed Arab leaders for endorsing the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, in comments published by Al-Jazeera on Friday.

AFP - Palestinians and Israeli settlers clashed in the northern West Bank on Friday, throwing stones at each other and damaging property, witnesses and the army said.

Reuters - Israel must lift its military blockade of the Gaza Strip and invite an independent, fact-finding mission to investigate its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a United Nations rights body said on Friday.

AFP - Israel is skeptical that a new round of sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program will be effective, but there is "still time" for them to work, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday.

AFP - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah on Friday urged Lebanon's rival factions to avoid violence, on an unprecedented joint trip to Beirut aiming to defuse political tensions.

AFP - President Barack Obama renewed an emergency measure Thursday to freeze the assets of persons who work with Hezbollah militants and "infringe upon" Lebanese stability.

AFP - The United States is urging King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to encourage the Palestinians to resume direct peace talks with Israel when they meet Thursday.

AFP - Arab officials agreed in principle on Thursday to the holding of direct Middle East peace negotiations and left it up to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to decide when to start talks with Israel.

AP - Arab nations on Thursday backed the Palestinian president's refusal to immediately restart direct talks with Israel despite heavy U.S. pressure.

AP - In just a few days, new Prime Minister David Cameron has openly declared Britain is no more than the "junior partner" of the U.S., irritated Israelis by calling Gaza a prison camp and enraged Pakistanis by suggesting their country exports terrorism.

AFP - The United States said Thursday it was "encouraged" by signs of Arab support for the resumption of direct Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.