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By EYAD BABA (AP)

An Israeli bombardment struck outside a U.N. school where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge on Tuesday, the U.N. and Palestinian medics said, killing at least 30 people _ many of them children whose parents wailed in grief at a hospital filled with dead and wounded.

An Israeli official said its soldiers came under fire from militants hiding in the school and that the building stored Palestinian munitions.

Despite international criticism over civilian deaths and calls for a cease-fire, Israeli soldiers edged closer to two major Gaza towns. A total of 58 Palestinians...

By KHALIL HAMRA (AP)

Palestinian medics said 34 people were killed in an Israeli strike outside a U.N. school in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya. The United Nations confirmed 30 were killed and 55 injured.

An Israeli official says Palestinian militants fired on Israeli soldiers from the courtyard of a U.N. school where dozens of people died in fiery explosions.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he said the army is still drafting the country's official response to the incident.

The Israeli official said "hostile fire" was directed at the soldiers from within the school....

By EYAD BABA (AP)

A U.N. official says 30 people died and 55 injured when artillery shells landed at the perimeter of a U.N. school in the 11th day of the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.

John Ging, head of Gaza operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said most of the casualties at the U.N. school in Jebaliya, where some 350 people had taken refuge, were outside the building. He did not say whether the artillery came from Israeli forces.

Palestinian medics say 34 people died in an Israeli strike. It was the second strike on a U.N. school within hours.

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By EYAD BABA (AP)

An Israeli bombardment hit outside a U.N. school where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge on Tuesday, and Palestinian medics said at least 34 people died _ many of them children _ as international outrage grew over civilian deaths.

It was the second fatal strike in the vicinity of a U.N. school in hours, and the deadliest assault since Israel sent ground forces into Gaza last weekend. The ground operation is part of a larger offensive against the ruling Hamas militant group that has killed nearly 600 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, according to U.N. and...

By HATEM MOUSSA (AP)

Palestinian medical officials say the death toll from an Israeli airstrike outside a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip has risen to 30.

The attack occurred about 10 yards (meters) outside the school in northern Gaza. It was the second deadly Israeli attack to strike a UN school in the past few hours.

Hospital director Bassam Abu Warda confirmed the 30 deaths from the second airstrike.

In both cases, the schools had been used as shelters for people displaced by Israel's offensive against Hamas militants. More than 500 people have been killed in the 11-day...

By HATEM MOUSSA (AP)

Palestinian medical officials say at least 12 people are dead in an Israeli airstrike outside a U.N. school in the northern Gaza Strip.

It is the second deadly Israeli airstrike to hit a U.N. school in the past few hours.

Palestinian health official Said Joudeh confirmed the death toll from the airstrike in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya. He says the school was turned into a shelter for people displaced by Israel's offensive against Hamas militants.

More than 500 people have been killed in the 11-day operation, including dozens of civilians.

Israel isn't...

By HATEM MOUSSA (AP)

Palestinian medical officials say at least three people are dead in an Israeli airstrike near a UN school in the northern Gaza Strip.

It is the second deadly Israeli airstrike to hit a UN school in the past few hours.

Palestinian health official Said Joudeh says three people were killed and four wounded in the airstrike in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya.

He says the school was turned into a shelter for people displaced by an Israeli offensive against the Hamas militant group.

More than 500 people have been killed, including dozens of civilians.

Israel...

By Bassem Tellawi (AP)

French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Syria on Tuesday to exert pressure on its ally Hamas to help end the fighting in the Gaza Strip between the militant Palestinian group and Israeli forces.

But his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, did not respond to Sarkozy's call to intercede with Hamas, instead slamming the Israeli assault on the coastal strip as a "war crime" and an "aggression" that Israel must halt.

Sarkozy's visit to the Syrian capital is part of a whirlwind Mideast tour amid European diplomatic efforts to push a cease-fire proposal to stop Israel's expanding g...

By Anja Niedringhaus (AP)

Israeli forces edged closer to Gaza's major population centers on Tuesday and attacked new sites, including a U.N. school, taking more civilian lives after ignoring mounting international calls for an immediate cease-fire. A Palestinian rocket attack wounded an Israeli infant.

The United Nations said three civilians were killed in the airstrike on its school, where hundreds of people from a Gaza City refugee camp had gone to seek shelter from Israel's blistering 11-day offensive against the Hamas militant group.

The missile landed in a courtyard late Monday, causing minor...

By Anja Niedringhaus (AP)

Israeli forces edged closer to Gaza's major population centers on Tuesday and attacked new targets, including a U.N. school, taking more civilian lives after ignoring mounting international calls for an immediate cease-fire. A Palestinian rocket attack wounded an Israeli infant.

The United Nations said three civilians were killed in the airstrike on its school, where hundreds of people from a Gaza City refugee camp had gone to seek shelter from Israel's blistering 11-day offensive against the Hamas militant group.

The missile landed in a courtyard late Monday, causing minor...

By KHALIL HAMRA (AP)

Israeli shells slammed into Gaza and ground forces edged closer to major population centers Tuesday, taking more civilian lives after Israel ignored mounting international calls for an immediate cease-fire.

In fighting that raged early Tuesday morning, at least 18 people were killed in shelling up and down the Gaza Strip from tanks and naval craft, local hospital officials said. Only two of the dead were confirmed as militants.

Tanks rumbled closer to the towns of Khan Younis and Dir el Balah in south and central Gaza but were still several kilometers (miles) outside,...

By AHMED ALHUSSAINEY (AP)

Iraqi police say gunmen have killed a member of President Jalal Talabani's political party in a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Kirkuk.

Police Brigadier Ahmed Hawandi said the official killed Monday was a member of Talabani's Kurdish party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Hawandi says the gunmen chased a car carrying Subhi Hassan and two others after it passed through a checkpoint before firing at it. He says Hassan and his bodyguard were killed, and a third unidentified person was wounded.

By MAYA HITIJ (AP)

The contours of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas are emerging, with diplomacy focusing on international guarantees, including foreign border monitors to oversee any agreement.

Various truce ideas have been floated in recent days in a swirl of diplomacy in the Middle East and at the United Nations, most involving international monitors.

Israel has two key objectives _ to prevent weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza, and to create enough deterrence to persuade Hamas to halt rocket attacks for good.

"Once these objectives are achieved and are followed by very...

By SEBASTIAN SCHEINER (AP)

Israel's expanding ground and air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers took a heavy civilian toll Monday, including three young brothers reported killed by a crashing shell and wounded who filled hospital corridors. Diplomats and European leaders raced around the region in search of a cease-fire, but with Palestinian rocket fire continuing, Israel said it won't stop its crippling 10-day assault until "peace and tranquility" are achieved in southern Israeli towns in the line of fire.

The operation's ground phase, which began Saturday with a withering round of artillery fire, was...

By HATEM MOUSSA (AP)

Israel's expanding ground and air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers took a heavy civilian toll Monday, including three young brothers reported killed by a crashing shell and wounded who filled hospital corridors.

Diplomats and European leaders raced around the region in search of a cease-fire, but with Palestinian rocket fire continuing, Israel said it won't stop its crippling 10-day assault until "peace and tranquility" are achieved in southern Israeli towns in the line of fire.

The operation's ground phase, which began Saturday with a withering round of artillery fir...

By HATEM MOUSSA (AP)

Wailing in grief, Salah Samouni banged his head against a wall inside the hospital morgue where the bodies of his three young nephews lay on the floor Monday.

After 10 days of a relentless Israeli assault, Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, is overwhelmed. Bodies were crowded two to a morgue drawer, and some _ like 3-year-old Issa, 4-year-old Mohammed and 5-year-old Ahmad _ were on the floor.

Shifa's shabby halls echoed Monday with the sounds of people screaming and the wail of ambulance sirens. Many of the wounded were being treated in hallways by harried doctors and nurses...

By Hadi Mizban (AP)

The United States inaugurated its largest embassy ever on Monday, a fortress-like compound in the heart of the Green Zone _ and the most visible sign of what U.S. officials call a new chapter in relations between America and a more sovereign Iraq.

U.S. Marines raised the American flag over the adobe-colored buildings, which sit on a 104-acre site and has space for 1,000 employees _ more than 10 times the size of any other American Embassy in the world.

"Iraq is in a new era and so is the Iraqi-U.S. relationship," Ambassador Ryan Crocker proclaimed.

In perhaps an...

By HATEM MOUSSA (AP)

Israel seized control of high-rise buildings and attacked houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels as it pressed its offensive against the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers on Monday, while the U.S. joined a stream of countries pushing for a cease-fire.

At least 14 Palestinian children were killed, raising the known death toll from a new ground invasion to more than 80. The vast majority of confirmed deaths have been civilians, fueling international outrage. Gaza's biggest hospital said it was overwhelmed.

As the bruising campaign against Gaza's Hamas rulers entered its 10th day, the Is...

By Hadi Mizban (AP)

Iraq has made tremendous progress over the past three months but the United States must remain engaged over the long term if it wants those gains to solidify, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq said.

Ryan Crocker told The Associated Press that 2009 will be a critical year for Iraq as it holds two crucial elections that will determine if democracy takes hold.

"I think we have seen a tremendous amount of progress, even since September. But the development of this new Iraq is going to be a very long time in the making, and we need to be engaged here," Crocker said in an interview ahead...