RAMALLAH
The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Tuesday condemned an ongoing Israeli military campaign on the Gaza Strip, asserting that Palestinians had every right to defend themselves from Israeli aggression.
"The Israeli government's decision to step up its aggression on the Gaza Strip and continue its policy of repression, abuse and settlement-building in the West Bank is tantamount to a declaration of war on our people," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement carried by the official Wafa news agency.
"The Israeli government will bear the consequences and repercussions [of the aggression on Gaza]," he added.
The Israeli Army said Tuesday that its air and naval forces had struck scores of sites across the Gaza Strip since the early hours of Tuesday, while ground troops were being mobilized on the border with the Palestinian enclave for a possible ground incursion.
The mobilization comes as part of a military offensive – dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" – that the Israeli army says is aimed at ending rocket fire from Gaza.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qodra told Anadolu Agency that at least four Palestinians had been killed and scores injured in the latest Israeli airstrikes.
"The Palestinian people will not stand idly by as Israel massacres our children, women and elderly," Abu Rudeineh said. "Our people have the right to defend themselves from Israeli aggression by any means necessary."
Abu Rudeineh went on to warn that Israel's decision to launch a military operation in Gaza would "destroy any chance for a truce and drag the region into a spiral of bloody violence that will burn everyone."
"The international silence, especially from the U.S. administration, is no longer acceptable, and will push the Palestinian leadership into taking fateful decisions to defend our people," he added.
By Anees Barghouthy
www.aa.com.tr/en
