Gunfire heard amid Gaza truce

Gunfire has been heard near the Hamas-controlled Foreign Ministry building in Gaza, despite a ceasefire following days of heavy fighting.Hamas and Fatah have been waging war against each other and violence escalated on Saturday, leading to three deaths, after an announcement by President Mahmoud Abbas calling for fresh parliamentary and presidential elections.Prime Minister Tony Blair is in Israel and is hoping to breathe new life into the Middle East peace process. He has pledged not to rest for a single moment until he has achieved progress in gaining peace for the troubled region.Speaking after talks with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Mr Blair said the next few weeks will be "a critical time" for the peace process.He urged the international community to stand behind Mr Abbas and warned Hamas - which holds a majority in the Palestinian parliament - that it will not be allowed to exercise a "veto over negotiations with Israel and progress towards peace".On Sunday, Mr Blair flew to Iraq for a surprise visit and met British troops in Basra. He has visited troops in the country every Christmas since the US-led war began in 2003.Speaking alongside Mr Abbas in his Muqata compound, Mr Blair said: "Now is the time for the international community to respond to the vision you have set out and I intend to do everything I can over the next period of time, and in particular over the coming weeks, to make sure we can deliver that support."He added: "I hope we will be in a position over these coming weeks to put together an initiative that allows that support for reconstruction and development and to alleviate the plight and suffering of the Palestinian people and also, crucially, give a political framework to move forward to a two-state solution."I hope and believe that can be done."Â© Independent Television News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.

ITN | December 18, 2006