The Palestinian militant group Hamas has freed a senior advisor to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Gaza's militants, including the Islamic rulers, Hamas, staged mass protest against the upcoming Mideast conference in Annapolis, asserting no such meetings can deliver Palestinian rights.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a rare meeting on Friday with members of the Islamic group Hamas, four months after Hamas militants defeated his own forces and took over the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian teenager has been killed in an Israeli ground operation in central Gaza, local TV said Thursday. According to Palestinian witnesses, the boy had been throwing stones at Israeli tanks when he was hit by shrapnel, and then run over. Two civilians and two Hamas militants are also reported to have been injured.

Hamas militants are observing preparations by the Israeli military for a large-scale military operation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, a spokesman for Hamas armed wing said Thursday.

Israeli troops have shot and killed three Hamas militants in separate incidents along Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. In the first incident Wednesday, Israeli soldiers killed two Hamas militants near the Karni cargo crossing.

The head of the Palestinian National Authority has ruled out any contact with the Hamas group until the situation returns to normal, and says international peacekeepers are needed to maintain security.

The armed wing of Hamas has rejected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's call for the deployment of international troops in the Gaza strip.

Israeli officials have called for an international effort end what they describe as the anarchy in the Palestinian territories. They also threatened further retaliation for Palestinian rocket attacks that killed an Israeli woman, late Monday, in southern Israel. VOA's Jim Teeple reports Israeli air strikes against militant targets in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 30 Palestinians, in the past few days.

Israel confirms that it is targeting the leaders of the Islamic militant group Hamas, hours after a deadly attack on the home of one of its lawmakers in the Gaza Strip. At least 12 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes during the past 24 hours. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, Hamas is threatening harsh retaliation.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is meeting with his top cabinet ministers and military commanders Wednesday, to discuss Israel's response to Palestinian rocket attacks. The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas said Tuesday that a five-month truce with Israel was over and that it fired a barrage of rockets and mortar shells from the Gaza Strip.

Israelis celebrated their 59th Independence Day on Tuesday as Hamas militants fired a barrage of rockets into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. VOA's Jim Teeple reports from Jerusalem, some Hamas militants say their five-month truce with Israel is over.