By Xinhua
Ramallah : The Palestinian government led by Salam Fayyad blamed the international community on Wednesday for bloodily Israeli raids in the Palestinian territories.
“We can’t exempt the international community from its responsibilities in any way,” said Information Minister Riyadh al-Maliki.
“The Palestinian territories lay under the occupation and, according to the international law, the international community shoulders the responsibility,” he added.
Al-Maliki said the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has asked the Middle East peace Quartet, comprising the United States, the European Union, Russia and the UN, to intervene and urge Israel to calm down.
Some 19 Palestinians, including 13 Hamas fighters, were killed and 25 others wounded in the Israeli army offensive in eastern Gaza City on Tuesday, the bloodiest day since Gaza in the grip of Hamas.
Three other civilians were the latest casualties on Wednesday when an Israeli air strike targeting a car exploded near them.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 but used to send troops to the volatile coastal enclave under the pretext of curbing Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli communities near Gaza.