• Source:JND
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Israel-Hamas War: Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has said that Palestine is not associated with Hamas and that the policies and actions of Hamas "do not represent the Palestinian people", the news agency Wafa reported. He said, "The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."

The Palestinian leader said this while talking to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the agency reported. According to a Venezuelan Foreign Ministry statement, Maduro and Abbas discussed "the terrible situation" in the Gaza Strip following "indiscriminate attacks" by Israel.

Maduro reaffirmed "Venezuela's unconditional support for the Palestinian cause and its Authority", and offered 30 tonnes of humanitarian aid "for the Palestinian people" to be sent in the next few days, according to the statement.

It added that both leaders agreed to "demand an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of a humanitarian assistance corridor" and the return to "international legality".

Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to "demolish Hamas" as his troops prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in pursuit of Hamas militants whose deadly rampage through Israeli border towns shocked the world. Israel has urged exhausted Gazans to evacuate south, which hundreds of thousands have already done in the besieged enclave home to more than 2 million people.

On Sunday, Hamas' armed wing Al Qassam Brigades said it fired 20 rockets from Lebanon at two Israeli settlements while Lebanon's Hezbollah militia said it fired missiles at Israeli barracks in Hanita and had inflicted casualties.

Israel said it was striking Lebanon in retaliation, and the U.N. peacekeeping force said its headquarters in south Lebanon had been hit by a rocket. Israel declared war on Hamas last Sunday, a day after waves of the militant group's fighters broke through the heavily fortified border and shot, stabbed and burned to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

The relentless bombing has flattened neighbourhoods and left at least 2,670 people dead in the Gaza Strip, the majority ordinary Palestinians. Aid groups have warned of a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, with some one million people displaced and Palestinians complaining of water running out.

(With Agency Inputs)