By KUNA
Gaza : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday condemned the Israeli military offensive on Gaza Strip, which killed and injured more than 130 Palestinians in the past few days.
Speaking to members of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in a meeting held in Ramallah, Abbas said that the current Israeli threats and escalation against Gaza “is more than a holocaust,” in an indication to the threat launched by Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai earlier today of setting out a “new holocaust” in the region.
Meanwhile, Abbas’s aide and spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdaina said that the Palestinian president had started making urgent contacts with Arab and world leaders in order to sway Israel to immediately end its offensive and reopen the crossings of Gaza that it closed for more than eight months.
Palestinian medics and witnesses said that the Israeli Army carried out a ground operation into an area east of the Jabaliya town in northern Gaza Strip, killing 28 Palestinians and wounding more than 60 others in a single day.
In spite of Israeli ground and air strikes, several militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for launching dozens of homemade rockets and mortars at Israel.