Fatah calls for state of emergency following Israeli operation in Gaza

The armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement on Wednesday urged Abbas and the Hamas-led government to declare a state of emergency and mobilization to counter the current Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Qussai, spokesman for the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, told reporters that the government and the president should work together to repel the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.

He made the appeal as six Palestinians were reportedly killed Wednesday in a fresh Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip.

Early in the morning, Israeli tanks, backed by air forces, rolled into the border town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip. Dozens of Palestinians were also wounded and several houses demolished.

Abu Qussai said that the brigades respected Abbas' call not to fire rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip, but asked the president "to work politically to stop the aggression."

The spokesman also expressed support to the platform of the Hamas-led government which adopts the option of resistance and called on the government to translate its program into action.

Source: Xinhua