The Egyptian Prime Minister Prime Minister Hisham Kandil has made a brief trip to Rafah in the Gaza Strip today to meet with the Gaza deputy Prime minister Ziad Zaza seen here for a three hour meeting, to show solidarity with the Palestinian people after two days of relentless attacks by Israeli warplanes determined to end militant rocket fire at Israel. Israel said yesterday, they would hold a ceasefire while this visit was going ahead, but reports just in,say that four rockets have been launched by Israel,so the ceasefire is over before it has even begun. There were unconfirmed reports that Qandil may try to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hammas. So far 18 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed but this figure is likely to rise since Israel began its offensive on Wednesday.

Meanwhile Israeli aircraft continued to attack targets throughout the Gaza Strip last night unleashing more than 25 strikes in swift succession according to Reuters witnesses. The aerial bombardment set off earth-shaking thuds and fireballs in the dark sky and were met with screeches of Palestinian rocket fire launched from the outskirts of Gaza City towards southern Israel.

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