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US/Israel Sign Suicide Pact, Death Warrant, Letter of Bondage for Obama WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni signed a deal here Friday aimed at halting arms smuggling into Gaza as part of efforts to clinch a ceasefire. Speaking at a hastily-arranged signing ceremony in Washington, Rice said the deal "provides a series of steps that the US and Israel will take to stem the flow of weapons and explosives into Gaza." Rice, who blamed Hamas rocket attacks for sparking a 21-day military offensive by Israel, said the memorandum of understanding aims to ensure that "Gaza can never again be used as a "launchpad" for such attacks. Livni thanked her US counterpart for completing this "historic MOU in record time." The Israeli top diplomat added: "There must be an end of smuggling of weapons to Gaza… The MOU we sign today is … a vital component for the cessation of hostilities." However, it was not...

New year Eve & Since Then : Gaza – Ma'an – Sixteen out of the 28 killed in Israeli airstrikes were children; nine were from the same family, five of the adults killed were women. On Friday the bodies of the Rayan family children were buried, and Palestinian medical sources confirmed the deaths of three more Palestinians under 17. Seven Palestinians have been killed since midnight Thursday bringing the death toll to 428 and the injured to 2,220 on day seven of the Israeli operation. The day's strikes were reported as follows: 2:45 One of the children killed Friday was from the Al-Astal family. He was playing outside his home in the Al-Qararra neighborhood was killed when a shell hit the area. 2:30 In the An-Nuseirat refugee camp the Israeli army targeted the home of Imad A'qel, a prominent leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. The home was destroyed but no injuries were reported. A'qel is one of the assistants to general leader o...