Israeli soldiers advanced into Palestinian autonomous territory during heavy fighting. Scores of civilians fled the town of Beit Jalla as Israeli tanks fired shells striking a number of houses - one of which contained a number of civilians and was engulfed in fire. At least one Palestinian activist from the Fatah movement was shot dead. An Israeli army commander said his troops had no intention of holding onto the land, seized during the incursion, but that such action would be taken when Palestinian gunmen opened fire. In Petach Tikva near Tel Aviv, four Israelis were lightly wounded when a bomb placed in a rubbish bin exploded.
Israeli police say a bomb was placed in a rubbish bin, near a bus station.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Newspaper advertisements are not the usual method used by political parties to recruit MPs but that's exactly what the Liberal Party in Victoria is doing. Australia has risked a backlash from China and Korea, by asking Japan to take a more active leadership role in Asia, specifically it wants the world's second biggest economy to get involved in peace-keeping missions.