An explosion from an IAF strike is seen in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on Tuesday,Palestinian medics: 18 gunmen, 3 civilians killed in IDF strikes on Gaza city.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday accused Israel of aiming to "wipe out" the Palestinian people in Gaza by refusing to end its deadly war on Hamas in the battered enclave. "This is the 18th day of the Israeli aggression against our people, which has become more ferocious each day as the number of victims has risen," Abbas said in Ramallah.
"Israel is keeping up this aggression in order to wipe out our people over there," he said at the opening of a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
"Our people are holding up well," Abbas said. "They continue to defend themselves and will never surrender."
Abbas once again welcomed efforts by Egypt to end the 18-day-old war that has killed more than 900 Palestinians in Gaza, nearly half of them civilians. "What is essential is to stop the aggression. It must stop, Israel must withdraw from Palestinian territory, lift the blockade and reopen the border crossings so that our people's suffering can end.