IBRAHIM BARZAK

Associated Press Writer
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Hamas: Gaza order restored after bloody weekend

Gaza's Hamas rulers said they had restored law and order to the seaside territory Sunday after a bloody weekend of clashes with an al-Qaida-inspired group.

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Gaza children go for world record for kite flying

Thousands of children in the Gaza Strip attempted to set a new world record Thursday by flying colorful homemade kites amid the ruins of Israel's bruising offensive earlier this year — a rare display of joy in the isolated seaside territory ruled by Hamas militants.

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Hamas: Mubarak doesn't know soldier's condition

Egypt's president didn't know what he was talking about when he said an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants was alive and well, a top Hamas official announced Wednesday, in rare public criticism of the Egyptian leader.

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4 Palestinians with explosives-laden horses killed

Gaza militants with explosives-laden horses approached the Israeli border early Monday, igniting a battle that left four gunmen dead, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

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Running short of concrete, Gazans build mud homes

The dirt under Yousef Hamida's feet has become an unlikely resource: He is using it to build a home, a result of Israel's refusal to allow construction materials into the Gaza Strip.

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Israel to probe reported abuse by soldiers in Gaza

Israel's defense minister promised Thursday to investigate reports that soldiers recounted how some troops opened fire too hastily and killed Palestinian civilians during the recent Gaza war, believing they would not be held to account under relaxed rules of engagement.

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Israel: Report of Gaza mortar fire incorrect

Israeli security forces have backtracked on a report that Gaza militants fired on Israel in violation of a shaky truce.

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Gazans dig bodies from rubble as cease-fire begins

For Palestinians searching the rubble of this devastated refugee camp, the mounds of concrete and metal hid all they desperately wanted and needed: the bodies of dead relatives, belongings and — bitterly — scraps of bombs now valuable enough to sell as recycled aluminum.

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Gaza war doctor grieves 3 daughters

The Palestinian doctor provided Israeli TV viewers with regular updates on Gaza fighting's human toll. But Friday's report was different — with sobs he told how his three daughters and a niece were killed by an Israeli shell.

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UN food centers working in Gaza despite attack

A day after an Israeli bombardment hit a warehouse in a U.N. compound and destroyed tons of aid, officials Friday delivered food rerouted from elsewhere to thousands of residents who otherwise have almost nothing to eat.

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Gazans seek new places to bury the dead

One family buried a slain son over his grandfather. Another bundled up the tiny bodies of three young cousins and lowered them into the grave of a long-dead aunt. A man was laid to rest with his brother.

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Hamas fighters seek to restore order in Gaza Strip

Uniformed Hamas security teams emerged on Gaza City's streets Monday as leaders of the Islamic militant group vowed to restore order in the shattered Palestinian territory after a three-week pummeling by the Israeli military.

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Israeli leader warns Hamas of 'iron fist'

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stood within Hamas rocket range Monday and warned Islamic militants that they face an "iron fist" unless they agree to Israeli terms for an end to war in the Gaza Strip.

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Israeli leader warns Hamas of 'iron fist'

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stood within Hamas rocket range Monday and warned Islamic militants that they face an "iron fist" unless they agree to Israeli terms for an end to war in the Gaza Strip.

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War strains Gazans' survival skills

In 17 days of war, Hisham Abu Ramadan has fallen into a new routine.

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Israel pounds new Hamas targets, enlists reserves

Israeli warplanes pounded the homes of Hamas leaders and ground troops edged closer to the Gaza Strip's densely populated urban center Monday, as Israel weighed a decision to escalate its devastating offensive. Despite the tightening Israeli cordon, militants managed to fire off at least 15 rockets Monday. There were no reports of injuries, though one rocket hit a house in the southern city of Ashkelon.

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Israel pounds new Hamas targets, enlists reserves

Israeli warplanes pounded the homes of Hamas leaders and ground troops edged closer to the Gaza Strip's densely populated urban center Monday, as Israel weighed a decision to escalate its devastating offensive. Despite the tightening Israeli cordon, militants managed to fire off at least 15 rockets Monday. There were no reports of injuries, though one rocket hit a house in the southern city of Ashkelon.

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Israeli troops meet Hamas resistance deep in Gaza

Israeli troops made their deepest advance into the Gaza Strip's most heavily populated area on Sunday, encountering increasingly fierce resistance from Hamas fighters as they warned civilians to stay clear of the battle zone.

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Gaza medics face war's carnage daily

The medics who brave Israel's assault on Gaza have come under fire from tanks and faced days-long delays in getting to the scene of attacks, sometimes finding animals gnawing at corpses when they finally reach the dead and wounded.

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UN: 257 Palestinian children killed in Gaza

Tiny bodies lying side by side wrapped in white burial shrouds. The cherubic face of a dead preschooler sticking up from the rubble of her home. A man cradling a wounded boy in a chaotic emergency room after Israel shelled a U.N. school.

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AP Gaza reporter finds hometown in rubble

I live alone in my office. My wife and two young children moved in with her father after our apartment was shattered. The neighborhood mosque, where I have prayed since I was a child, had its roof blown off. All the government buildings on my beat have been obliterated.

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UN curbs Gaza aid after trucks hit by Israeli fire

The U.N. suspended aid shipments in the Gaza Strip on Thursday and the Red Cross restricted its convoys after their trucks came under Israeli fire. The threat of a wider conflict arose when militants in Lebanon fired two rockets into northern Israel.

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Gaza hospital overwhelmed by dead, wounded

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.

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Fear, shortages for civilians caught in Gaza fight

Anas Mansour sleeps in his street clothes in a south Gaza refugee camp, with his ID in his pocket so he can flee quickly if fighting gets worse. In Gaza City, the 10 members of the Karam family huddle in their hallway at night, kept awake by artillery fire booming outside.

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Hamas resilient despite Israeli onslaught

Israel is methodically targeting the Hamas domain, bombing government offices, security compounds, commanders, and even Hamas-linked clinics, mosques and money changers. Yet Gaza's Islamic rulers show no sign of buckling under the aerial onslaught.

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