T here's a simple explanation for Israel's decision to raise the stakes in Gaza. Because it can. It has military superiority. And it knows the act has no consequences, at least internationally. President Obama turned aside, saying he quite understood Israel's reasons but hoped it would try to avoid civilian casualties. The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, made clear which side the UK was on, declaring that "Hamas bears principal responsibility for the current crisis".

Three Israelis die as Palestinians launch attacks after Hamas commander killed in air strike

Egypt’s Islamist president today denounced Israel’s shelling of Gaza as an “unacceptable aggression,” ordering his prime minister to visit the Hamas-governed enclave in what could emerge as the first major test for the country’s leader.

Update: A report of 6 March by the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that the death of Omar Masharawi was the result of “what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel”.  The High Commissioner’s reported also concluded that the Israeli Defence Force, the De Facto Authorities in Gaza and Palestinian armed groups all “failed in many instances to respect international law”.

Militants in the Gaza Strip pounded southern Israel with rocket fire today, killing three people as the Israeli military continued with a second day of intense air raids and naval attacks on militant targets.

William Hague condemned rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza today, insisting militant group Hamas bore “principal responsibility” for spiralling violence.

Air strike assassination of Hamas military chief signals start of major operation

There have been occasions in the past when it has been hard to penetrate the thinking of an Israeli government; the events of yesterday supplied one more. At a time when instability, or potential instability, afflicts almost all its borders, from Sinai in the south to Golan in the north, one might have thought that the last thing Israel needed was any action likely to fan the flames further.

Netanyahu is prepared to risk international censure that such attacks have provoked in the past

The Israeli military says its assassination of the Hamas military commander marks the beginning of an operation against Gaza militants.

Israeli leaders have begun preparing domestic and international opinion for a renewed onslaught against Palestinian militants after more than a million Israeli citizens spent a third night in bomb shelters as more than 100 rockets rained across the Gaza border in less than 48 hours.

Palestinian militants fired an antitank missile at an Israeli army vehicle on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, wounding four soldiers and prompting Israeli shelling that local medical officials said killed four Palestinian civilians and wounded 25 others.

Gunmen killed the brother of Syria's parliament speaker as he drove to work in Damascus on today, the state-run news agency reported, as the international envoy for Syria warned the country could become another Somalia.

Rival Palestinian officials from Fatah and Hamas sparred publicly today over reports that the two sides were once again on the brink of signing a power-sharing agreement before a new bid for state recognition at the United Nations this month.