Berlin  - A German government spokesman Saturday confirmed that Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend a summit with other world leaders in Egypt to seek a way to end the ongoing Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Other attendees to the summit set for Sunday will include the host, Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The summit will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh. Merkel is scheduled to travel on to Israel Sunday afternoon after the summit.

Cairo - Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak on Saturday rejected proposals to base on its territory foreign observers to monitor the Gaza Strip, but said his country itslef would instead secure its border with the salient.

"Egypt is exerting all efforts to secure its borders with Israel and the Gaza Strip. It will never accept the presence of foreign observers on its territory. This is a red line we will not allow to be crossed," Mubarak said.

Gaza - At least three people, a woman and two children, were killed Saturday when an Israeli artillery shell landed near a United Nations school in the northern Gaza Strip, medics and witnesses sai

Tel Aviv - The Israeli security cabinet was expected to vote Saturday night on a ceasefire proposal, as the military campaign entered its fourth week and airstrikes continued overnight across the Gaza Strip.

The warplanes hit about 50 targets during the night, including rocket launching sites, tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border as well as mosques used as points from where militants fired at Israel, a military spokesman said.

Gaza  - A mother an

Dubai - A senior Israeli negotiator told the Egyptian government on Friday that Israel rejects a one-year truce with Hamas and wants the truce to be open-ended, al-Arabia satellite channel reported.

Amos Gilad in a short visit to Egypt said that Israel would agree to open its borders with Gaza if Hamas releases the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shailt.

Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants in 2006.