Israel threatens more bloodshed in Gaza

The Israeli air force Saturday dropped leaflets on the Gaza Strip warning residents that it plans to escalate its military offensive, now in its second week, AP reported.

The warning came as eight members of the same Palestinian family, including a 12-year-old, were killed on Saturday by Israeli fire in the northern town of Jabaliya.

The leaflet said Israel will “escalate” an operation that already has killed more than 800 Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority president Saturday said Israel must accept an Egyptian-brokered plan to end the fighting in the Gaza Strip or it would bear responsibility for the war.

At a news conference in Cairo, Mahmoud Abbas called for an international force in Gaza and said he hoped Hamas, which controls the territory, would be able to reach an agreement to end the fighting without “hesitation”.

Abbas was in Cairo for talks on how to halt the conflict, which is in its 15th day. Hamas officials were scheduled to meet with Egyptian officials separately.

Palestinian medical officials say more than 800 Palestinians have been killed, roughly half of them civilians.

The fighting raged after both Israel and Hamas ignored a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. Israel has dismissed a Security Council resolution passed on Thursday as impractical.

--------European protests call for end to Gaza conflict

Meanwhile, demonstrators rallied across Europe on Saturday in protest against Israel's assault in the Gaza Strip.

In London, celebrities and left-wing politicians addressed crowds in central Hyde Park before marching to the Israeli embassy, which has been the scene of rowdy protests since the regime’s onslaught on Gaza began on December 27.

Organizers hoped that 100,000 people would turn out.

Some carried banners reading ""Stop the holocaust in Gaza,"" ""Freedom for Palestine,"" while others waved Palestinian flags.

Similar demonstrations took place on the streets of other European cities including Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Paris and Sarajevo.

""This gathering proves that Sarajevo has learned its lesson on what happens when the world remains silent at the time when innocent civilians suffer,"" peace activist Svetlana Broz told the crowd in the Bosnian capital, referring to the 1992-95 war in the former Yugoslavia that claimed at least 100,000 lives.

Tens of thousands chanting ""We are all Palestinians"" joined the mass protest in Paris.

Elsewhere in France, pro-Palestinian rallies were held in Bordeaux, Grenoble Lille, Marseille, Nice and Toulouse.

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