Gazans hold mass funeral for Israel air raid victim

Thousands of Palestinian mourners in the besieged Gaza Strip have held a funeral for a resistance fighter who was killed in an Israeli killer drone strike.

The funeral ceremony was held in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central part of the besieged enclave on Monday.

The mourners carried the body of Mazen Faraj al-Jarba, who was killed in the Israeli air raid on Sunday night.

This comes as at least seven Palestinians have been killed and several others injured in a series of Israeli air and ground attacks over the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Palestinian resistance movement Hamas blamed the Tel Aviv regime for what he called a “grave escalation” of violence, and vowed to retaliate.

The President of the Palestinian National Unity Government, Mahmoud Abbas, has also called for an international investigation into crimes committed against Palestinians.

The latest attacks come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have recently vowed to expand military operations in the besieged region.

Israelis claim their attacks are in retaliation for rockets fired from Gaza. However, the Palestinians lack any drones, warplanes or even sophisticated missile systems to attack Israelis.

In 2008-2009, more than 1,330 Palestinians were killed during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, while thousands of others, many of them women and children, remained hospitalized.

In November 2012, Israel launched the so-called Operation Pillar of Defense I against Gaza. Over 160 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and about 1,200 others were injured and more than 1,500 targets were hit across the Palestinian enclave during the eight-day war.

Gaza has been blockaded since June 2007, which is a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.