Abbas: Israel's new offensive is ethnic cleansing

In a statement, Abbas condemns what he describes as Israel's brutality, and calls on the USA to intervene.

Abbas has many times previously described Israel's policy as ethnic cleansing, but is now referring to the offensive that was launched last week against a refugee district in Jenin. There, Abbas' own forces from the Palestinian Authority (PA) had previously, since the end of last year, attacked Islamist militiamen.

But when Israel took over the warfare, the bloodshed increased, and Abbas therefore means that the Israeli forces are going too far.