ISRAEL

Guardian: 12 killed in Israeli raid on Gaza Strip
The army killed 12 Palestinians and injured dozens more - eight critically - as about 50 tanks, armoured vehicles and helicopters swooped on the Zaitoun district of Gaza city, a Hamas stronghold. 1. Verstoss gegen die Genfer Konvention, Gaza City ist das dichtest Besiedelte Gebiet der Welt

Mr Sharon's cabinet yesterday also ordered the immediate closure of Palestinian cities and access to Israel from the occupied territories until after tomorrow's ballot. The move prevents about 4 million Palestinians from leaving the towns and villages in which they are resident, and from crossing the 1967 border. The army said curfews may also be imposed in some areas. 2. Verstoss gegen die Genfer Konvention

More than 100 buildings were flattened during the raid 3. Verstoss gegen die Genfer Konvention

Hours later, a six year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by the Israeli army in another part of Gaza, the latest of more than 100 children killed by the army since the start of the intifada. His five year-old brother was wounded.

The military said the two were among a group that walked into a no-go area for Palestinians near an army post next to Rafa refugee camp, and the soldier who opened fire did not see the children. 4. Verstoss gegen die Genfer Konvention

Hours later, a six year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by the Israeli army in another part of Gaza, the latest of more than 100 children killed by the army since the start of the intifada. His five year-old brother was wounded.

Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi, a Hamas spokesman threatened a bloody retaliation. "Our reaction will include mass death," he said.

The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, yesterday said that a future Palestinian state must be contiguous and viable, not the patchwork of islands the Palestinians have theoretical control of today.

"A Palestinian state, when it's created, must be a real state, not a phoney state that's diced into a thousand different pieces," he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Bla Bla Bla, wenn die USA mit dem Vorgehen der Israelis nicht zufrieden wären würde Israel anders vorgehen.