Israelis kill ten Palestinian militants

Israeli forces have killed six Palestinian militants belonging to Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades as they were approaching the Israeli border in two cars.

Earlier, the Israelis killed four Palestinian militants in a fight near Khan Younis. The militants were responding to an incursion into the Gaza Strip by Israeli tanks and bulldozers (BBC).

So the low-intensity strike and counter-strike continue. As long as this continues, there is a pretext for some (including Hamas and Edud Olmert) to refuse to accept peace with their neighbours. They cling to power, while their foot soldiers (and, often, innocent bystanders) suffer the consequences.

Hamas in negotiations over Shalit

The Palestinian militant group Hamas is negotiating separately with the International Committee of the Red Cross and several European countries over access to, and the possible release of, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in a joint operation by Hamas and other Palestinian groups in June 2006.

The Director-General of the ICRC, Angelo Gnaedinger, has held talks with former Palestinian PM Ismail Haniya, a Hamas leader, asking for the ICRC to be given access to Shalit. Haniya said he was aiming to reach an "honourable prisoner-swap deal" involving Shalit and Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel (BBC).

Two Hamas activists killed in Gaza

Two Hamas militants have been killed by Israeli soldiers near Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip. According to an Israeli army spokesman, the men were armed, and were killed as they approached the Gaza-Israel border fence (BBC).

Is it not an overreaction to shoot someone just for approaching a border? Was their any evidence that the militants had meant to attack any Israeli positions?