Nearly 2,000 Killed As US Bolsters Iraq Forces

Timeline: How The Iraq Crisis Unfolded

Updated: 10:07am UK, Monday 30 June 2014

A look back at the main events in the Iraq crisis, which has seen Sunni insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group move to within 50 miles of the capital Baghdad.

December 2011: US troops complete their withdrawal after the 2003 invasion which led to the removal of Saddam Hussein.

August 2013: More than 70 people are killed in attacks at the end of Ramadan. ISIS claim responsibility.

January 2-4, 2014: ISIS declares itself in control of the western city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi following clashes sparked by the clearing of a Sunni-Arab protest camp.

February: al Qaeda formally disowns ISIS, which was at one time an affiliate, because of its extreme methods.

April: Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki wins the most seats in a general election.

June 10: ISIS seizes all of Nineveh province in the north, including the capital Mosul - Iraq's second city. Mr Maliki asks parliament to declare a state of emergency.

June 11: The militants launch a wave of attacks further south, taking Tikrit and freeing hundreds of prisoners in Baiji. An assault on Samarra, 70 miles (110km) north of Baghdad, is repelled by security forces.

June 12: Iraq's air force strikes fighters' positions near Mosul and Tikrit.

US President Barack Obama says he is looking at "all the options" to help the government, which fails to secure authorisation for a state of emergency.

The army abandons its bases in Kirkuk, leaving Kurdish Peshmerga troops to take control.

June 13: A top Shia cleric issues a call to arms, telling the population to take up arms and defend their country.

Mr Maliki claims government forces have started to clear cities of "terrorists" and implements an emergency plan to protect Baghdad.

Mr Obama rules out sending back troops to fight ISIS.

The rebels move into the towns of Saadiyah and Jalawla in eastern province of Diyala.

June 14: Iran offers to work with the US to tackle the crisis, as Britain pledges an initial £3m in emergency aid to help refugees fleeing the violence.

The Iraqi army's fightback continues, with forces retaking the towns of Ishaqi, al-Mutasim and Duluiyah in Salaheddin province.

Troops also regain much of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town.

US aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush is ordered to the Persian Gulf.

June 15: Photos emerge appearing to show an ISIS massacre of 1,700 captured government soldiers. Baghdad says number is exaggerated.

Reports say militants have overrun Tal Afar, the largest town in Nineveh province.

A bombing in central Baghdad leaves 15 people dead and dozens injured.

Former PM Tony Blair tells Sky News that critics who believe the violence is the result of the 2003 invasion are "profoundly mistaken".

June 16: Video footage purporting to show an ISIS fighter questioning and killing unarmed Iraqi soldiers draws condemnation.

ISIS takes control of Tal Afar and the al Adhim area of Diyala province.

US Secretary of State John Kerry says Washington is "open to discussions with Iran".

June 17: Britain announces it is reopening its Iranian embassy, with Foreign Secretary William Hague saying the "circumstances are right" as the West looks to improve relations to help tackle the crisis in Iraq.

Iraq's Shia leaders accuse Saudi Arabia of promoting "genocide" by backing Sunni militants.

June 18: Iraq's foreign minister asks the US to carry out airstrikes to help reverse the sweeping gains of Islamist militants in the country.

David Cameron warns that if Britain does not intervene in the Middle East crisis then terrorists will "hit the UK at home".

Insurgents are seen parading through the city of Baiji with captured vehicles after reports they have taken over three-quarters of Iraq's biggest oil refinery.

ISIS charts its brutality and tactics in annual reports called al-Naba - The Report, it emerges.

June 19: Iraqi authorities say government forces have retaken the Baiji oil refinery after fierce fighting.

Mr Obama says US troops will not return to combat in Iraq, but he would be prepared to take "targeted action".

The president also announces additional equipment and up to 300 additional military advisers could be provided to help fight the ISIS insurgency.

June 20: Iraq's senior Shia religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani calls for a new government for the country as it struggles to stop Sunni militants.

Mr Obama piles further pressure on Iraq's PM, saying he needs to take urgent steps to heal the sectarian rift in the country, but stopping short of demanding he quit.

A video of British jihadists urging Western Muslims to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria emerges on social media.

June 21: The family of Naseer Muthana, 20, who appears in the ISIS recruitment video and younger brother Aseel, 17, who followed him to fight in the region say they are "devastated". 

The men's father Ahmed Muthana tells Sky News he believes his son Nasser was radicalised in a mosque in the United Kingdom.

In Iraq, dozens of Iraqi troops are killed as ISIS militants seize the crucial Qaim crossing into Syria.

A Shia preacher loyal to anti-US cleric Moqtada al Sadr warns that the 300 US military advisers en route to Iraq will be attacked.

June 22: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei comes out in opposition of US intervention in neighbouring Iraq.

Mr Obama warns ISIS could grow in power, destabilise the region and pose a threat to the US.

The mother of one of two Britons filmed in a militants' video calling for Western Muslims to fight in Syria and Iraq, Reyaad Khan, pleads for him to come home in an emotional Sky News interview.

A former head of counter-terrorism at MI6 tells Sky's Murnaghan programme up to 300 Islamist fighters from Iraq and Syria may have returned to the UK and it would be "impossible" to keep track of all of them.

June 23: Mr Obama warns ISIS could pose a threat to the US, hours after the Islamist militants make dramatic gains by capturing four towns in western Iraq.

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Baghdad for talks with Mr Maliki.

June 24: Mr Kerry arrives in Irbil for talks with Kurdistan's regional government President Massoud Barzani.

The leaders at a mosque in Cardiff say they believe the jihadists who appeared in an ISIS recruitment video were radicalised online.

June 25: In an exclusive interview with Sky News, the former head of the Armed Forces, Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, warns the fighting in Iraq should serve as a "wake-up call" to the West.

June 26: The first team of American military advisers arrives in Iraq.

Mr Sadr expresses opposition to the US advisers and warns his supporters will "shake the ground" fighting the ISIS insurgency.

Iraqis are urged to put aside sectarian differences by Mr Hague, who calls for an inclusive government to be formed.

June 27: Satellite images appear to back up claims that ISIS militants massacred between 160 and 190 men in Tikrit earlier this month.

June 28: It is revealed that the US is flying armed drones over Iraq, but the Pentagon says this is to protect American military advisers.

June 29: The Iraqi army launches a major offensive to try to retake Tikrit, as ISIS declares an Islamic state in the areas of Iraq and Syria they control.

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Sollecito Distances Himself From Knox

Amanda Knox's ex-boyfriend has sought to distance himself from the American woman ahead of their appeals trial, saying he is not her "guarantor".

Raffaele Sollecito stressed during a press conference in Rome that he believes Knox is innocent in the 2007 murder of English student Meredith Kercher in Perugia.

But he said that any "anomalies" would have to do with Knox's defence, not his. 

"My name is Raffaele Sollecito, not Amanda Marie Knox, and I must answer as someone whose name is Raffaele Sollecito," he said.

Sollecito and Knox have been convicted by an appeals court in the murder. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, she received a 28 year and six month term.

The two, who were having a relationship at the time of the murder, have always denied wrongdoing.

Meredith Kercher was 21 when she was killed

An appeal trial before Italy's highest criminal court, the Court of Cassation, awaits them.

Knox has maintained she spent the night of November 1, 2007, when Kercher was murdered, at Sollecito's house.

But the Italian said today that he can only vouch for the late evening.

He did not confirm that the two were together in the first part of the evening, around 8.30pm or 9pm, which is roughly the time they believe Ms Kercher was killed.

Sollecito also said Knox had been caught in a lie: the American said she had sent a text message from Sollecito's house the night of the murder but the judges who convicted the pair said her phone's signal showed she was not at Sollecito's house.

Knox and Ms Kercher shared a house in Perugia

"I am not Amanda Knox's guarantor and I can only take my stand on the basis of my experience, of what I have lived," he said, flanked by his lawyers.

The press conference had been called to lay out Sollecito's defence strategy ahead of the Cassation appeal, expected in months.

He insisted the comments did not amount to a change in his defence strategy and reiterated his belief Knox is innocent.

He said at the time of the murder he was in love with Knox - whom he had started dated a short time before - but also added she remained a "stranger".

Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found with her throat slashed in her bedroom at the house she shared with Knox.

The wounds on Ms Kercher's body indicate she was killed by more than one person, experts said at the time.

Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivorian, has been convicted of the murder and is serving a 16-year sentence.

Knox is back in Seattle and has no plan to come back to Italy for the appeal trial.

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Hong Kong's China Protest Is Biggest Of Decade

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

Demonstrators have marched through Hong Kong, protesting against the growing influence of China's central government.

The march in the semi-autonomous region takes place annually on July 1, marking the anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China.

However this year's gathering, the largest in a decade, is widely seen as an important gauge of the shifting public mood among Hong Kongers.

Organisers say nearly 500,000 people took part, while police claim 92,000 "set off for the march" but they have not given a figure for how many joined en route.

Under the umbrella of a movement calling itself Occupy Central, the pro-democracy marchers pledged to bring the Central district of Hong Kong island to a standstill.

They broadly represent a growing number of people who are worried that Beijing's communist government is eroding their political and social freedoms.

"We have long been fighting for true democracy in Hong Kong," Edward Chin, an island financier told Sky News.

"We want fair competition, we want fair play and we want true democracy and we don't want Beijing to exert premature influence over Hong Kong's people. They should honour (the) 'one-country, two-systems' (principle)."

Hong Kong was relinquished as a British colony and handed back to China in 1997.

Under the agreement, China pledged to govern Hong Kong under a principle of "one country, two systems" giving the territory "a high degree of autonomy". It has its own legal system and the freedom of assembly and expression are protected.

But, nearly two decades on, there are concerns that Beijing's hand is increasingly at the levers in Hong Kong.

"We are concerned about unfair competition and about freedom of speech and freedom of press. We have seen it deteriorate in the last two years since CY Leung became the Chief Executive of Hong Kong," Mr Chin said.

Central to the concerns of the marchers is the process by which the political leader in Hong Kong is chosen. Known as the chief executive, the leader is currently elected by a 1,200-member committee.

The mini-constitution of Hong Kong states that, ultimately, the leader will be chosen by "universal suffrage". Beijing has promised direct elections by 2017 but only from a list of candidates selected by a committee.

Over the past 10 days, nearly 800,000 people voted in an unofficial referendum expressing their desire to choose their leader. Beijing called the referendum "illegal".

Speaking at a flag-raising ceremony to mark the 17th anniversary of the handover, Chief Executive CY Leung said the Hong Kong government "will do our utmost to forge a consensus" on implementing universal suffrage but added that stability in the territory was essential.

"Only by maintaining Hong Kong's stability can we sustain our economic prosperity," he said.

There are growing signs of a widening wealth gap in the city of 7.2 million people.

Young people have seen their average yearly income drop. Many claim the political and financial system is working against them as an influx of wealthy mainland Chinese gain an unfair advantage, dominating the economy as well as the political system.

"Hong Kong should not just be ruled by the ruling class and the special privileged few," Mr Chin told Sky News.

"We are losing, at a very quick pace, what we were promised -  the two systems, one-country policy signed by China and Britain. The UK, who ruled Hong Kong for over 145 years, should look into the situation more because now in Hong Kong, people have lost the confidence in mainland China," he said.

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Nicolas Sarkozy Held In Corruption Inquiry

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is being held for questioning over suspected "influence peddling".

Detectives want to know if he promised a top role in Monaco to a high-ranking judge for information about an investigation into alleged illegal campaign funding.

They are looking into claims that Mr Sarkozy was warned his phone was being bugged as part of the funding probe.

The judge, Gilbert Azibert, a senior appeal court judge, was called in for questioning on Monday.

A second judge, Patrick Sassoust, was also quizzed, along with Mr Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog.

Mr Sarkosy arrives at the police station for questioning

The alleged illegal funding campaign is said to have been funded by the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Mr Sarkozy, 59, is being quizzed by detectives at their offices in Nanterre, west of Paris.

It is the first time a former head of state had been held for questioning in modern French history.

The conservative politician denies wrongdoing in a string of inquiries which could derail his hopes of a comeback after his 2012 presidential election defeat by Francois Hollande.

Mr Sarkozy has been out of power since 2012. File image

Asked about the matter, French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said Mr Sarkozy was "subject to justice just like everyone else."

Suspicions Mr Sarkozy and his lawyer kept tabs on the funding probe through well-connected informants arose after a legal phone-tappng operation.

The case is one of six involving Mr Sarkozy, including a new one this year into alleged irregularities in his unsuccessful 2012 election campaign.

In March last year Mr Sarkozy was placed under formal investigation, accused of accepting envelopes stuffed with cash from heiress Liliane Bettencourt to illegally finance his 2007 election campaign.

Lilliane Bettencourt

However, he was later cleared of taking unfair advantage of Ms Bettencourt, who is 91 and France's richest woman. 

The L'Oreal heiress was diagnosed with dementia in 2006 and was placed under the guardianship of her family in 2011.

Mr Sarkozy lost his immunity from prosecution when he was beaten in the 2012 presidential election by his Socialist opponent.

Since then he has had to contend with a string of allegations relating to his five years in power and various election campaigns.

If he is charged and found guilty of  "influence peddling", he could face up to 10 years in jail.

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Court Rules To Uphold French Ban On Veils

The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a law in France that bans Muslim women covering their faces with veils while in public places.

The ruling came after a woman brought a case arguing her freedom of religion was being violated.

The Strasbourg-based court's ruling was the first of its kind since France passed the law in 2010.

The law, which came into effect in 2011, forbids anyone from hiding his or her face in a range of public places, including the street.

The ruling was made at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg

The court's Grand Chamber, its highest forum, rejected the arguments of the French woman in her mid-20s who said the the law violated her freedom of conscience and religion and was discriminatory.

Judges ruled that the law was brought in to encourage in a diverse population.

It was therefore legitimate and did not breach the European Convention on Human Rights, they ruled.

A statement said: "The Court was also able to understand the view that individuals might not wish to see, in places open to all, practices or attitudes which would fundamentally call into question the possibility of open interpersonal relationships, which, by virtue of an established consensus, formed an indispensable element of community life within the society in question.

"The Court was therefore able to accept that the barrier raised against others by a veil concealing the face was perceived by the respondent State as breaching the right of others to live in a space of socialisation which made living together easier."

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Dying Reeva's Screams 'As Loud As A Plane'

It is possible Reeva Steenkamp's screams on the night she was shot and killed by Oscar Pistorius were as loud as a plane's engine, a court has heard.

State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned acoustic expert Ivan Lin on the sounds heard on Valentine's Day last year when the athlete's girlfriend was killed.

When asked if he would put Ms Steenkamp's screams at 120 dB, Mr Lin said: "120 means extremely loud, you can almost hear it 100 metres away. It is a very slight possibility, but it is possible."

Sky Correspondent Emma Hurd said: "Mr Nel is trying to make the point that Reeva Steenkamp would have screamed loudly because she was 'screaming for her life'."

After quizzing Mr Lin about some of the technical details in report, Mr Nel contended that, without exception, everybody heard a woman's screams on that night.

He said: "Four state witnesses all heard screams by a woman. That must be reliable even for a scientist."

Pistorius hugs a well-wisher in court

Pistorius's defence team have previously said the screams came from him, as he was upset that he had killed Ms Steenkamp.

Next to give evidence was Peet van Zyl, Pistorius's manager.

Mr van Zyl, who has worked with the athlete since 2006, told the court Pistorius had a "heightened sense of awareness".

Reeva's mother June Steenkamp arrives at court

This led to him always parking his car in open spaces with plenty of lighting, sitting close to the door in restaurants and locking his hotel room door when he was travelling. 

Mr van Zyl recalled an incident on an plane when Pistorius removed his prostheses because of severe blisters on his stumps.

"At some stage one of the legs fell over and when an air hostess tried to pick it up politely, Oscar Pistorius had felt someone close and (he) was startled," Mr van Zyl said.

State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel questions a witness in court

"He grabbed his leg from her."

Large parts of the trial have focused on Pistorius's relationship with Ms Steenkamp, which had started around three months before her death.

Mr van Zyl said their relationship was "loving and caring" and they were always calling each other pet names.

Pistorius planned to take her to an Andrea Bocelli concert in Italy, Mr van Zyl told the court.

Pistorius had a "heightened sense of awareness", the court heard

It was revealed that Pistorius was moved from a room he was sharing with another athlete at the 2012 Olympics because, Mr Nel said, Pistorius was constantly on the phone arguing.

Mr van Zyl said he heard there was an issue between the pair, but was not aware why they did not get on.

Before the court adjourned for the day, Mr van Zyl was asked if he thought Pistorius was paranoid. He replied he was not qualified to offer an opinion.

Reeva Steenkamp and Pistorius had been dating for around three months

The trial has resumed after an adjournment for a month of psychiatric tests, which found Pistorius was not mentally ill at the time of Ms Steenkamp's death and that he is fit to stand trial.

Pistorius denies murdering Ms Steenkamp, claiming he mistook her for an intruder in his home.

The trial continues.

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Rolf Harris Loses Hero Status In Australia

He may have left in the 1950s but Australians were fiercely proud of Rolf Harris.

Now they are having to get to grips with the fact that the multi-talented family entertainer is also a sexual predator of young women and girls.

He is known as "the boy from Bassendean" by locals from the Perth suburb where he grew up.

Now they are erasing all evidence of him.

There is talk that a plaque in his honour is to be dug up and that he is likely to be stripped of his freeman of the town title.

Harris leaves court after the jury delivered their guilty verdicts

They have taken down a portrait of him in the local council chamber and will hold a meeting about removing his artwork too.

John Gangell, the mayor of Bassendean, told Sky News: "You can't rewrite the history books. This is a heinous crime and we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour."

Mr Gangell met Harris on one of his many trips back to Australia but as he watched him sign autographs for local children, he never suspected he had a dark side.

"Rolf's association with the town of Bassendean and his hero status are over," he said.

"His profile will be stripped from here."

Louise Anton claims she was assaulted by Harris more than a decade ago

Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott also said he felt "gutted and dismayed" following Harris' conviction.

"It's just sad and tragic that this person who was admired seems to have been a perpetrator," he said.

In the Australian media over recent weeks, a number of women have come forward with fresh allegations against Harris of sexual assault - claims which have not been reported in the UK for fear of prejudicing the trial.

A police photograph of Harris taken after his arrest

Newspapers reassured readers Down Under that those printed reports would not be published on the internet, therefore ensuring jurors did not see them.

The new abuse allegations may now see charges and prosecutions brought against Harris in Australia.

Louise Anton, who lives in Perth, said she was molested by Harris at a function in Australia in 2001.

"What goes around comes around," she said in response to the guilty verdicts.

"I'm not into revenge or tit-for-tat but he's spoiled so many lives.

"It happened to me as an older women but when you talk in the realm of children, that's just not on.

"We need to throw the book at people like that."

Hetty Johnston, who founded Bravehearts, an Australian organisation which helps victims of, and aims to stop, child sexual abuse, told Channel 9 people had contacted her about Harris.

"If the people I've spoken to over many years come forward, there's every chance he'll face charges," she said.

"We need the victims to come forward."

Ms Johnston said "certain information" was given to police but warned detectives "can't do anything with it unless people come forward".

"It doesn't matter who you are in this country, if you've hurt a child you're going to go down for it because people are speaking up," she added.

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World Cup: Cameroon Hit By Match-Fixing Claims

Cameroon is to investigate claims that seven of its players were involved in match-fixing at the World Cup in Brazil.

A statement by the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) said the probe would be conducted by its Ethics Committee.

The investigation comes after a convicted Singaporean match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal accurately predicted the score before Cameroon's 4-0 defeat by Croatia on June 18, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.

The report said he also predicted a Cameroon player would be sent off in the first half of the game.

Song gets his marching orders

Midfielder Alex Song, who plays for Barcelona, was subsequently dismissed during the opening 45 minutes for elbowing Mario Mandzukic.

Cameroon also lost their two other Group A matches - beaten 1-0 by Mexico and 4-1 by Brazil.

"Recent allegations of fraud around Cameroon's three 2014 World Cup games, especially Cameroon v Croatia, as well as the existence of seven bad apples (in our national team), do not reflect the values and principles promoted by our administration," FECAFOOT said. 

"We wish to inform the general public that, though not yet contacted by Fifa in regards to this affair, our administration has already instructed its Ethics Committee to further investigate these accusations.

"We are strongly committed to employ all means necessary to resolve this disruptive matter in the shortest delays."

The statement added that Cameroon football has never been sanctioned for fraud.

"We wish to reinstate that in fifty-five (55) years of existence, FECAFOOT has never been sanctioned for, involved in, or even linked to match-fixing or any fraud of any kind," it said.

Cameroon line up for the Croatia game

World Cup organisers Fifa said in a statement: "The integrity of the game is a top priorirty for Fifa and as such we take any allegations of match manipulation very seriously."   

Cameroon's match against Croatia was also marred by an incident in the second half when defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto appeared to headbutt team-mate Benjamin Moukandjo.

FECAFOOT subsequently launched an investigation into the incident but have yet to report the outcome.

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Seven Pulled Out Alive From Collapsed Building

Search teams have rescued seven more people from the rubble of a building, three days after it collapsed in India.

A number of others were believed to be still trapped in the debris following Saturday's disaster which killed at least 29 people.

There is an enormous pile of broken slab, twisted iron girders and concrete dust at the site where the 11-storey apartment block was partially built.

A total of 26 people have been successfully rescued from the scene in a suburb of Chennai.

Hundreds of rescue workers, wearing hard hats and breathing masks, were set to continue searching for at least another day.

They expected to find more bodies, as rescuers said the foul smell of death was becoming overpowering.

Disaster response official Sandeep Rai Rathore said: "As a rescuer, we don't lose hope.

Where the partially constructed building once stood

"It will take time ... Removing the debris layer by layer is very difficult."

One of the survivors, a 27-year-old man named Mahesh, reportedly indicated there were "several" people still alive under the mass of concrete, raising hopes among rescuers and families.

Rescue teams were listening for faint cries and thuds coming from the debris to guide their search, but by Tuesday evening no sounds were heard, Mr Rathore said.

Police have arrested six construction company officials for alleged criminal negligence and violation of building codes.

The collapse came only hours after a dilapidated apartment block crumbled in the capital New Delhi, killing 10 people, including five children.

Building collapses are common in the country, where high housing demand and lax regulations have encouraged builders to cut corners, use sub-standard materials or add unauthorised floors.

Last September more than 50 people were crushed to death when a five-storey building came down in India's financial capital Mumbai.

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Israel Holds Funerals For Teen Kidnap Victims

The family homes of men suspected over the deaths of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers have been blown up.

Troops set off explosions in the West Bank buildings, blowing open a doorway in one, an army spokeswoman said.

The other property was on fire after the blast.

A fireball rises above Rafah, southern Gaza, following an Israeli airstrike

Israeli fighter jets also bombed dozens of sites in the Gaza Strip, hours after vowing to take revenge on the killers of the three hitch-hikers.

A man was shot dead after allegedly throwing a grenade at troops attempting to arrest a militant in the Jenin refugee camp.

The Israeli teenagers' bodies were found under a pile of rocks in an isolated spot near Hebron, three weeks after they went missing.

Soldiers walk away from the Hebron home of one of the kidnap suspsects

Eyal Yifrach, 19, and 16-year-olds Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel disappeared on June 12 while hitchhiking home from the Jewish school where they were studying.

Their bodies were found by soldiers after the biggest Israeli ground operation inside the West Bank in nearly a decade.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the Islamic militant group Hamas for the atrocity and said the teenagers were "kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by human animals".

"Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay," he said.

One of Amer Abu Eisheh's relatives walks through the shell of his home

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has denied any involvement in the kidnappings, although a spokesman said: "Threats don't scare Hamas and if (Mr Netanyahu) wages a war on Gaza, the gates of hell will open on him."

An adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the country was committed to peace so that "no mother or no family will be bereaved for the loss of their beloved ones, (whether) Palestinian or Israeli."

However, Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli government, told Sky News: "President Abbas says he's committed to peace, reconciliation and fighting terrorism, and yet he's in an alliance with terrorists who kidnap and murder children.

Demonstrators march near the UN headquarters in New York

"When he chose to form a pact with Hamas, he was turning his back on his own commitment to fighting terrorism.

"Hamas is part of a family of terrorist movements, such as Hizbollah in Lebanon and Isis in Iraq, who are well known for their violence and their extremism.

"President Abbas has to decide whether he's with them or with the path of peace and reconciliation."

About 400 suspected Hamas militants were arrested as Israeli air strikes hit 34 targets inside the Gaza Strip.

The homes of chief suspects Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Eisheh, who are still on the run, were also destroyed, witnesses told the AFP news agency.

Israeli security officials are expected to discuss possible further military action after an emergency meeting on Monday.

Overnight, thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv's central Rabin Square to sing, pray and light candles.

It came as Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the "despicable terrorist act" as an "outrage beyond any understanding or rationale".

"As a father, there are no words to express such a horrific loss that shakes all people of conscience," he added.

US President Barack Obama said the murders were "senseless" but warned against retribution that "could further destabilise the situation".

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