Israeli soldiers shot dead a 21-year-old Palestinian woman near the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday and wounded another local youth, Palestinian medics said. Witnesses said Lubna Hanash and her companions were walking to al-Arroub College when men in Israeli military uniforms travelling in a civilian car shot at the group. Asked about the incident, an Israeli army spokeswoman said Palestinians had thrown petrol bombs at soldiers, who then opened fire. Earlier on Wednesday, Saleh al-Amareen, 16, died of his wounds in an Israeli hospital after being shot in the head during clashes with Israeli soldiers in a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday. Violence and deadly confrontations have become more frequent in the occupied West Bank since Israel announced plans late last year to expand settlements and the Palestinians won de-facto statehood recognition at the United Nations in November. READ ON: Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian woman in West Bank
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Israeli soldiers shot dead a 21-year-old Palestinian woman near the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday and wounded another local youth, Palestinian medics said.

Witnesses said Lubna Hanash and her companions were walking to al-Arroub College when men in Israeli military uniforms travelling in a civilian car shot at the group.

Asked about the incident, an Israeli army spokeswoman said Palestinians had thrown petrol bombs at soldiers, who then opened fire.

Earlier on Wednesday, Saleh al-Amareen, 16, died of his wounds in an Israeli hospital after being shot in the head during clashes with Israeli soldiers in a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday.

Violence and deadly confrontations have become more frequent in the occupied West Bank since Israel announced plans late last year to expand settlements and the Palestinians won de-facto statehood recognition at the United Nations in November.

READ ON: Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian woman in West Bank

The worst winter storm in two decades has hit the eastern Mediterranean this week, bringing destruction and death to Syria and its neighbors who are already dealing with a refugee crisis from the country’s civil war. Opposition activists in Syria, where war has forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and cut off access to food, fuel and power for cities and towns, say dozens of people have died there in four days of relentless extreme weather.READ ON: Winter storm brings devastation to Syria and neighbors
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The worst winter storm in two decades has hit the eastern Mediterranean this week, bringing destruction and death to Syria and its neighbors who are already dealing with a refugee crisis from the country’s civil war.

Opposition activists in Syria, where war has forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and cut off access to food, fuel and power for cities and towns, say dozens of people have died there in four days of relentless extreme weather.

READ ON: Winter storm brings devastation to Syria and neighbors

FLASH: U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly votes to grant Palestinians “non-member state” U.N. observer status; U.N. vote implicitly recognizes sovereign state of Palestine

Palestinians hold a banner during a rally in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, supporting the resolution that would change the Palestinian Authority’s United Nations observer status from “entity” to “non-member state” November 29, 2012.  LIVE COVERAGE: UNGA meets on Palestine status resolution
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Palestinians hold a banner during a rally in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, supporting the resolution that would change the Palestinian Authority’s United Nations observer status from “entity” to “non-member state” November 29, 2012. 

LIVE COVERAGE: UNGA meets on Palestine status resolution

An Israeli soldier smokes a cigarette at a staging area outside the northern Gaza Strip November 21, 2012. Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt on the eighth day of intensive Israeli fire on the Gaza Strip and militant rocket attacks out of the enclave, Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said. REUTERS/Amir Cohen LIVE COVERAGE: Conflict along the Gaza Strip
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An Israeli soldier smokes a cigarette at a staging area outside the northern Gaza Strip November 21, 2012. Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt on the eighth day of intensive Israeli fire on the Gaza Strip and militant rocket attacks out of the enclave, Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

LIVE COVERAGE: Conflict along the Gaza Strip

Egypt announced on Wednesday that a ceasefire had been reached to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, starting later in the day. Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr made the announcement in a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The ceasefire would come into effect at 15:00 EDT, said Amr, whose country has been at the heart of efforts to broker an end to the conflict. “Egypt has made great efforts … since the start of the latest escalation in the Gaza Strip,” Amr said. “These efforts and contacts have resulted in understandings to cease fire and restore calm and halt the bloodshed that the last period has seen,” he added. “Egypt calls on all to monitor the implementation of what has been agreed under Egypt’s sponsorship and to guarantee the commitment of all the parties to what has been agreed,” he said. READ ON: Egypt declares ceasefire to end Gaza conflict
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Egypt announced on Wednesday that a ceasefire had been reached to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, starting later in the day.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr made the announcement in a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The ceasefire would come into effect at 15:00 EDT, said Amr, whose country has been at the heart of efforts to broker an end to the conflict.

“Egypt has made great efforts … since the start of the latest escalation in the Gaza Strip,” Amr said.

“These efforts and contacts have resulted in understandings to cease fire and restore calm and halt the bloodshed that the last period has seen,” he added.

“Egypt calls on all to monitor the implementation of what has been agreed under Egypt’s sponsorship and to guarantee the commitment of all the parties to what has been agreed,” he said.

READ ON: Egypt declares ceasefire to end Gaza conflict

FLASH: Egyptian Foreign Minister announces Gaza ceasefire

FLASH: Ceasefire between Hamas and Israel agreed, according to a Palestinian official with knowledge of talks.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday pursued a Gaza truce, with Israel and Hamas still at odds over key terms, as Israeli air strikes shook the enclave and a bomb exploded on a Tel Aviv bus. After talks in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Clinton held a second meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before travelling to Egypt for discussions with President Mohamed Mursi, whose country is the main broker in efforts to end eight days of fighting. In Tel Aviv, targeted by rockets from Gaza that either did not hit the city or were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome interceptor system, 15 people were wounded when a commuter bus was blown up near the Defence Ministry and military headquarters. Israel and the United States branded it a terrorist attack, and a White House statement reaffirmed Washington’s “unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security”. The explosion, which police said was caused by a bomb placed on the vehicle, touched off celebratory gunfire from militants in Gaza and threatened to complicate truce efforts. READ ON: Gaza shakes, bus explodes in Tel Aviv as Clinton seeks truce
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday pursued a Gaza truce, with Israel and Hamas still at odds over key terms, as Israeli air strikes shook the enclave and a bomb exploded on a Tel Aviv bus.

After talks in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Clinton held a second meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before travelling to Egypt for discussions with President Mohamed Mursi, whose country is the main broker in efforts to end eight days of fighting.

In Tel Aviv, targeted by rockets from Gaza that either did not hit the city or were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome interceptor system, 15 people were wounded when a commuter bus was blown up near the Defence Ministry and military headquarters.

Israel and the United States branded it a terrorist attack, and a White House statement reaffirmed Washington’s “unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security”.

The explosion, which police said was caused by a bomb placed on the vehicle, touched off celebratory gunfire from militants in Gaza and threatened to complicate truce efforts.

READ ON: Gaza shakes, bus explodes in Tel Aviv as Clinton seeks truce

FLASH: Hamas official Ezzat al-Rishq tells Reuters Gaza truce has been held up because Israel has yet to respond to proposals, says we “must wait until tomorrow.”