Peace brokers proclaimed a breakthrough in efforts to halt the Gaza conflict Jan. 7 as Israel's cabinet considered a Franco-Egyptian initiative and Russia pressed for a diplomatic solution in talks with Hamas. Israel stopped short of saying whether the plan floated by the presidents of Egypt and France after a summit at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh would be accepted. Hamas representatives also said the plan was under consideration. (Middle East Online, Jan. 7)

The TamilNet news service reports that Red Cross and other aid and medical evacuation vehicles are being barred access to the northern pocket of Sri Lanka still held by the Tamil Tiger rebels, which has come under heavy bombardment in recent days. Sri Lankan army forces are blocking all traffic in and out of the zone, while government air-strikes continue. An unknown number of wounded civilians apparently remain trapped in the besieged pocket. (TamilNet, Jan. 7)

An Anglo-French oil company is poised to send more than 1,000 workers into a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon inhabited by uncontacted indigenous tribes. The company, Perenco, has just been given the go-ahead from the Peruvian government to drill for oil in the region. It is estimated to be the biggest oil discovery in Peru in 30 years.

In a victory for constitutional rights, two Transportation Security Authority (TSA) officials and JetBlue Airways have paid Raed Jarrar $240,000 to settle charges that they illegally discriminated against the US resident based on his ethnicity and the Arabic writing on his t-shirt. TSA and JetBlue officials prevented Jarrar from boarding his August 2006 flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport until he agreed to cover his shirt, which read "We Will Not Be Silent" in English and Arabic, and then forced him to sit at the back of the plane. The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Jarrar’s behalf in August 2007.

Israeli tanks and troops surged into towns across the Gaza Strip Dec. 6, battling Hamas fighters through the streets and alleys of Gaza City in the heaviest fighting of the 11-day-old offensive. Israeli air-strikes hit three UN-run schools, killing at least 45 people—bringing the Palestinian death toll in "Operation Cast Lead" to 635 and sparking urgent new ceasefire calls.

Turkish warplanes and Iranian artillery bombarded Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq on Jan. 5, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) said. "Turkish planes and Iranian artillery bombarded Aquwan and the Iranians bombarded Maradu. The bombardment lasted for about one hour starting from 7 PM," said the spokesman, Ahmed Denis, said. He had no immediate word on any casualties.

The Palestinian death toll reached 530 as Israel's assault on Gaza entered its tenth day Jan. 5, and Israeli ground forces encircled Gaza City. Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared the city "partially besieged." Israeli air-strikes continued, and armed Palestinian groups launched dozens of projectiles across the border. Dozens of artillery shells landed in residential houses in outlying Gaza City neighborhoods and east of Jabalia refugee camp. Palestinian fighters continued to exchange fire with Israeli troops, primarily in northern towns and the outskirts of densely-populated Gaza City. Three Israeli soldiers were killed and 24 others wounded by a tank shell in a "friendly fire incident" in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said in a statement.

Latin American governments and organizations generally condemned the assault on the Palestinian territory of Gaza by Israeli military forces. There were also a number of street protests, which the media reported were mostly small. The strongest condemnations came from leftist governments. Cuba's Communist government issued a statement on Dec. 27, at the beginning of the air campaign, calling the offensive an "act of genocide" and a "criminal military operation, the bloodiest one executed by Israel against the Palestinian people." It "takes place in the midst of an illegal blockade imposed by the Israeli government in the last 18 months against the Gaza Strip, directed at annihilating and subduing the Palestinian population—including children, women and the elderly—by hunger and disease." Cuba expressed its "unyielding solidarity with and support for this long-suffering and heroic people." (Declaración del Gobierno Revolucionario, Dec. 27; Prensa Latina, Dec. 28)