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Al Jazeera English - News - Abbas: Gaza Attacks 'A Holocaust'

Latest News in Gaza:

The Palestinian president has accused Israel of "international terrorism", saying its assault on Gaza constitutes "more than a holocaust".

Mahmoud Abbas's comments on Saturday came as more Israeli air raids brought the total death toll over four days to 78 people, at least a third of which have been children, according to medical sources.

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Forty-six people were killed during Saturday's raids alone.

"It's very regrettable that what is happening is more than a holocaust," Abbas told reporters in Ramallah.

"Children who are barely five-months old are being bombed by the Israeli army."

"We tell the world to see with its own eyes and judge for itself what is happening and who is carrying out international terrorism."

Abbas later requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the Palestinian leader said.

Khaled Meshaal, the exiled Hamas leader living in Syria, also denounced the Israeli attacks against Gaza's civilians as "the real holocaust".

Children killed

Rana el-Hindi from Save the Children, speaking from inside the Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera children were suffering greatly from the Israeli bombardment.
"In the last three days at least 19 children have been killed ... it's a real concern for all organisations here," she said.
"Most of the time, when we go into the field and talk to the children about their fears and concerns, they are always afraid of a new [Israeli] invasion to the Gaza Strip - and obviously the current situation is just ... what they fear."
She said the number of children being hospitalised was increasing "day after day".
Eissam Younis, director of the Al Mizan Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army was "intentionally and systematically targeting civilians" and criticised world powers for their muted response.
"Israel puts itself above the law because the international community is always silent," he said.

Missile attacks
The latest attacks mark the fourth day of Israeli bombardment.
Those killed in Saturday's attacks included at least eight civilians, four of them women, said Dr Muawiya Hassanein, head of Gaza's emergency services.



At least 15 of those killed were fighters, including 10 fighters from Hamas and two from the Islamic Jihad.

Two Israeli soldiers were also killed and seven wounded, the Israeli army said, its first casualties in four days of fighting.

An operation in the Jabaliya refugee camp on Saturday marked the deadliest day of fighting in the Hamas-ruled territory for more than a year.

The attacks follow the death of an Israel civilian in a Palestinian rocket attack.

More than 120 Palestinians have also been wounded. At least 10 of those killed were Hamas fighters and two were from the Islamic Jihad.

The Israeli army confirmed its operations in northern Gaza, with the Israel Army Radio reporting that five soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

Witnesses said the Jabaliya deaths occurred as a result of gun battles between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers.

Tariq Dardouna, a Palestinian resident trapped in his house in east Jabaliya, told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces targeted civilians.

"The Israeli army opens fire at everything in our area, including children and houses. There are injured children bleeding inside their houses," Dardouna said.

"They are opening fire at everything."

Witnesses also reported clashes in the nearby Tufah neighbourhood in northern Gaza City.

Threat of invasion

There has been increasing domestic pressure in Israel to mount a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, said on Thursday that "a major ground operation was real and tangible" and that Israel was "not afraid of it".

In Israel, six people were wounded, one of them seriously, by long-range rockets fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the Israeli army said.

Fighters in Gaza fired over 40 rockets and mortars at southern Israel.

Eight of the missiles were long-range rockets that travelled as far as the seaside Israeli town of Ashkelon, some 11km north of the Gaza Strip, where they caused the injuries.

Israel's political and military leadership has been considering a major ground offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory to prevent fighters from deploying longer-range rockets like those that hit Ashkelon on Saturday.

Israeli troops have carried out near-daily raids into Gaza since Hamas took power there in June, while Palestinian fighters have launched frequent volleys of rockets and mortars at Israeli communities near the Gaza border, though the missile attacks have rarely caused injuries.

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