By Xinhua
Ramallah : A Palestinian negotiator on Saturday called on Gaza militant groups to stop firing home-made rockets into southern Israel to avoid escalating Israeli army operations into the coastal Strip.
“We clearly say the rocket attacks must stop because the Israeli occupation killed more victims, increased the losses and expanded the range of the massacre in the Gaza Strip,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, who is also a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Voice of Palestine radio.
Abed Rabbo also slammed Islamic Hamas movement which seized control by force on the Gaza Strip last June. “Those who believe that their political balance will multiply as long as the massacres increase should stop making profit at the expense of the Palestinian blood.”
Twenty-seven Palestinians were killed Saturday in an ongoing Israeli army incursion in northeast Gaza Strip. The death toll of four-day offensive is raised to 61 Palestinians, including more than 11 children.
Israel says the operations were in response to the killing of an Israeli resident Wednesday in a barrage of rockets fired by Hamas.
The current flare-up of violence is the worst since Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) announced the resumption of peace talks at a U.S.-held conference last November.