An Israeli was injured last night when two mortar shells fired by Palestinian militants hit Netiv Ha'asarah, a community just north of the Gaza Strip, hours after the army killed an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade militant in Qabatiyeh, near Jenin. fantasies, nightmares, depressive thoughts, glorification of violence, increased feelings of vulnerability and alertness". Dr Sarraj says there is already evidence the flights are triggering in young children "poor concentration leading to low academic achievement .. fear of losing a close relative ... A medical opinion submitted to the court by Dr Eyad el-Sarraj, a prominent Gaza psychiatrist, points out that the flights have often been timed when children are on their way to and from school.

Denying this, the Israeli military says the flights are a "less threatening" alternative to artillery fire and targeted assassinations, which have also increased in response to the rocket attacks and the suicide bombing that killed five Israelis in Hadera on 26 October. According to UN figures 12 Palestinians were killed, including some civilians, in the last week of October. On Tuesday an Israeli Army sergeant, Yonatan Evron, was killed in a shoot-out with Palestinians in a village near Jenin. The groups say the fear and damage caused, particularly to children, by the "mock air raids" - a response to two phases of about 80 Qassam rocket attacks into Israel in September and October - are a form of "collective punishment" against the civilian population as a whole and therefore violate international law. The petition, served by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, seeks a court ruling requiring the Defence Minister, Shaul Mofaz, to halt the low-altitude supersonic flights. Miscarriages have increased sharply and children have been driven to panic by Israeli jets systematically breaking the sound barrier over Gaza, according to a petition filed with the court yesterday.

Human rights groups launched a High Court battle to stop the "physical and mental harm" to Gaza's civilian population they say is caused by Israel's new weapon against militant attacks: the sonic boom. The debate has already opened up rifts among the right-wingers in power, with more pragmatic hardliners viewing Mr Ahmadinejad as a dangerous maverick. The oil post sets the tone of a presidency more than any other. Iran is the second largest crude oil producer in Opec, and the minister can cause world oil markets to jump or fall with a misplaced word.. Analysts now believe the presidency could be thrown into greater turmoil if Mr Mahsouli is rejected next week. Just three months into his tenure, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has taken the rare step ofpublicly defending his president. His comments about "wiping Israel off the map" that sparked international outrage a week ago were received with less clamour in Iran, but prompted some figures to question the president's judgement.