Abbas backs Hamas truce demands

The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday endorsed demands by Hamas for halting Gaza hostilities with Israel.

As the violence entered its 16th day, Palestinian emergency services said that at least 73 people were killed on Wednesday during prolonged shelling of the southern town of Khan Younis and in the northern Gaza Strip. At least 526 more were wounded on Wednesday, most of them seriously.

According to Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra, more than 4,700 Palestinians have been wounded since the beginning of the US-backed Israeli aggression.

Hamas and other resistance groups have demanded a lifting of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Wednesday formally supported core conditions set by the Hamas-led fighters.

"The Gaza demands of stopping the aggression and lifting the blockade in all its forms are the demands of the entire Palestinian people and they represent the goal that the Palestinian leadership has dedicated all its power to achieve," senior PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo said in Ramallah.

"We are confident Gaza will not be broken as long as our people are standing beside it to support it through all possible means until the invaders understand that our great people inside the homeland and outside will not leave Gaza alone."