U.S. Hopes Israel Will Not Expand Gaza Offensive
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By Saul Hudson SAO PAULO, Brazil  - The United States hopesIsrael will quickly end its massive offensive in Gaza withoutexpanding the operation, Secretary of State Colin Powell saidon Monday.
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Hamas said on Tuesday it still hoped Washington would soften its position toward a Palestinian unity government despite Israeli statements that the United States and Israel would shun it until it met several conditions.
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Israel held out the prospect on  Monday of coordinating a planned unilateral Gaza pullout with  the Palestinians if a new leadership succeeding Yasser Arafat  cracked down on militants.
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Israel&#39;s Ariel Sharon has rejected his army&#39;s request to scale back its Gaza offensive, seeking to avoid any show of weakness after deadly bombings in Egyptian resorts crowded with Israelis, security sources said.
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday ruled out dialogue with Hamas Islamists who control the Gaza Strip and said the army would continue attacks on militants firing cross-border rockets into Israel.
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Israel will not launch attacks or raids against Palestinians if the situation remains calm and it is not provoked, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday.
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Hamas on Monday rejected calls from the Palestinian Authority to stop firing Kassam rockets at Israel, saying the Israelis did not need an excuse to continue the military operation in the northern Gaza Strip.
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JERUSALEM, Sept. 11 -- The Israeli government resisted calls Tuesday from hawkish lawmakers and angry citizens to begin a broad assault on the Gaza Strip after a pre-dawn rocket strike on an army training base wounded 69 soldiers on their last day of boot camp.
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JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed on Sunday to expand a huge offensive into Gaza that has killed 50 Palestinians until militants stop firing rockets into Israel.
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The Palestinians have decided not to bring a draft resolution condemning Israel&#39;s military operation in the northern Gaza
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Israeli officials have ruled out a large-scale military retaliation to yesterday's Palestinian rocket attack which injured dozens of Israeli soldiers.
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Israel, under pressure from the United States, agreed to marginally loosen restrictions at Gaza's border crossing with Egypt on Thursday, but did not make any longer-term commitment to keep the frontier open.
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Ariel Sharon&#39;s chief of staff has said the aim of Israel&#39;s Gaza withdrawal plan is to rule out a Palestinian state indefinitely.
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ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned last night that his military forces would expand their deadliest Gaza offensive in four years, as the death toll reached more than 60 in Israel&#39;s bid to put an end to a Palestinian rocket campaign.
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With troops poised to invade Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday ruled out bargaining with the captors of an Israeli soldier and promised a &quot;broad and ongoing&quot; military offensive.
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Israel's prime minister pledged Sunday to continue attacking Gaza militants, ruling out truce negotiations with Hamas amid widespread skepticism about the Islamic group's ability to halt rocket attacks.
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed on Monday to put his Gaza withdrawal plan to a parliamentary vote on Oct. 25 but rejected his army&#39;s request to scale back its Gaza offensive.