Palestinians declare 'state of emergency' as Israelis kill seven more

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - The Palestinian cabinet declared a state of emergency in the Palestinian territories as Israeli troops killed another seven Palestinians in the early hours and another died of his wounds.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called on the world to end the "criminal and racist" Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which the Jewish state says is to root out militants firing homemade rockets into Israeli territory.
But militants of the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas said on Saturday they would continue to fire the rockets and would target the port city of Ashkelon.
"The Israeli military operation has failed," said a leader of the Hamas military wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, in a press conference at the Jabaliya refugee camp, a focal point in the fighting.
"We will continue to fire Qassam rockets, and we call on the residents of Ashkelon to leave their homes."
Arafat, speaking to journalists outside his headquarters after an emergency cabinet session, said: "I call on the entire world to act immediately and rapidly to stop the criminal and racist" attack launched by the Israeli army.
At the same time, he denied that any of the rockets fired at Israel had caused any casualties, contradicting Israeli claims that two children had been killed in the southern Israeli town of Sderot in an attack on Wednesday.
"These rockets the Israelis are talking about have not killed anyone ... and only make noise," he said.
A Palestinian cabinet statement called for international intervention, humanitarian help for the people of Gaza and denounced what it called "world silence in the face of the magnitude of crimes committed".
Israeli troops have killed 54 Palestinians since Tuesday night when more than 100 Israeli tanks, backed by aircraft, moved into the northern Gaza Strip in the operation called "Days of Penitence".
Shops closed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Saturday in a widely followed strike to protest at the deaths of the Palestinians.
Officials said Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei had cancelled a trip to Russia and Turkey to attend an emergency cabinet session later in the day.
The cabinet also called on the international quartet that drafted a now moribund Middle East peace plan last year to "intervene immediately to ensure the protection of our people."
The quartet consists of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.
Both Washington and Moscow yesterday called for restraint by the Israeli military, a call apparently falling on deaf ears.
Egypt on Saturday joined the call for a halt to the violence while Spain, Switzerland, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Canada had all earlier expressed concern at the continuing violence.
Palestinian security sources said Israeli gunfire killed a Palestinian early on Saturday near his home in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Two Palestinians died and four were wounded in an Israeli air raid on the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip overnight, Palestinian security officials said.
The dead were members of the radical Islamic Jihad group, officials said.
In a separate operation, Israeli troops shot dead four members of a Palestinian commando squad after they had managed to infiltrate Israel from the Gaza Strip, the military said.
They were preparing to carry out an attack on an Israeli kibbutz, Nahal Oz, before being spotted and killed in a gunbattle.
Later, hospital sources in Gaza City said a Palestinian hit during an Israeli air raid on the Jabaliya camp on Friday died of his wounds.
On the Israeli side, two soldiers and a female Jewish settler in the Gaza Strip have also died since the incursion began, as well as the two children in Sderot.
The deaths brings to 4,408 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada. This includes 3,384 Palestinians and 953 Israelis, according to an AFP tally.
In its state of emergency decree, the Palestinian cabinet ordered ministries and public institutions to concentrate their efforts on providing assistance to the people of Gaza.
On Friday, the White House cautioned its staunchest US ally in the Middle East to "keep in mind the impact" of its military operations on the peace process, while refusing to condemn Israeli action.
In Moscow, the foreign ministry said: "Russia urgently calls on Israel to avoid the indiscriminate use of force, especially in densely populated Palestinian territories, and to abide by international humanitarian norms as it pursues its right to self-defense."
At the same time, Russia called on the Palestinians to take "effective and conclusive measures putting an end to terrorist acts against Israel."
The Arab League roundly condemned the Israeli incursion and criticized the international sponsors of the Middle East peace process for not speaking out.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) accused the Israeli army of taking over schools while pupils were still in class, and using them as firing positions.
"UNRWA strongly protests the totally unacceptable misuse of clearly marked UN installations and calls on the Israeli military to respect the neutrality of these places."