KHAN YUNIS, October 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Around 15,000 people turned out in Khan Yunis Monday, October 7, for the funerals of the initially 12 people killed, even as a 13th died in hospital of his injuries, as the Palestinian Authority blasted the attacks.

“The Palestinian Authority condemns this ugly massacre which is part of preparations to reoccupy the Gaza Strip,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said.

According to the Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, Erakat asked the international community to provide immediate protection for the Palestinian people.

During his meeting with the E.U. Political and Security Affairs representative, Erakat called on E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana to make the Israeli government, which is completely responsible for the Khan Yunis massacre and all other massacres committed against the Palestinians to carry out it's international obligations.

Erakat said that every time the international community tries to push back the peace process in action, the Israeli response is more massacres.

Erakat, strongly condemned the Khan Yunis massacre and called for the end of the occupation of Palestinian land, including Jerusalem and areas surrounding it and for the withdrawal from the lands that were occupied as well as the halt of the siege and release of the detainees. He also called for the halt of assassination in order for the peace process to continue, reported WAFA.

Meanwhile, Arafat’s top aide, Nabil Abu Rudeina, called for the U.N. Security Council to “convene and send an international protection force,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

In another development, Islamic resistance group Hamas on Monday called on all Palestinian resistance organizations to strike Israel after an Israeli raid in the Gaza Strip which left at least 13 Palestinians dead overnight.

“This massacre is one of a series by the Zionist occupation aimed at destroying all Palestinians, including children, women and elderly people,” charged Abdel Aziz Rantissi, a senior Hamas leader.

“After this massacre, the Palestinian people lost security in Khan Yunis. Is it fair that there should be security in Tel Aviv?” he told AFP.

“We are asking all Palestinian military groups - the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the Al-Quds Brigades, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine - to escalate their operations and strike everywhere in Israel,” he said.

WAFA reported that the Palestinian organization for the protection of human rights and environment, Al Qanoon, condemned the massacre and issued a statement that said this massacre will be added to a list of tens of others committed by the Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians during the intifada.

The organization said that it was worried about the world nations turning a blind eye towards these massacres and about the U.S.’s blind support for Israel’s aggressive policies towards the Palestinian civilians, WAFA reported.