广播听力：Mideast Conflict Heats Up

Tension in mideast continues as Israeli missiles striked on Gaza Strip for the sixth straight day on Monday.

A Palestinian militant of al-Aqsa Brigades was killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told members of his Party that overall offensive will be continued.

"I will say only that we are acting and we will continue to act in a way that is painful and effective, that will bring maximum results in terms of halting terror."(wwW.hxen.com)

On the other side, Hamas senior leader Mahmoud Zahar said his group has been in touch with an unidentified third party to discuss all the issue.

"We are not ready to speak directly to the Israelis but we already made a contact with a third element to discuss all the problems, one of them the ceasefire, the process of releasing our detainees from the Israeli jails and also to open our gates in order to give the Palestinian people the chance to live as human beings."

Early Monday morning, Israel Defense Forces withdrew its ground troops from the Gaza Strip. The recent offensive in the region has killed more than 100 Palestinians.