PA pledges crackdown on illegal arms

The Palestinian interior minister vowed Saturday to crack down further on armed groups saying he would deal "firmly and seriously" with illegal weapons manufacturing workshops and storage sites.

Nasser Youssef issued a statement as Israel pursued a series of air strikes against rocket launch sites in northern Gaza that knocked out electricity to parts of the territory.

He condemned the Israeli raids and urged "an immediate international intervention" to stop them, but also called on militants to adhere to an eight-month truce.

"We will deal firmly and seriously with any foundry or workshop that manufactures weapons or explosives and also with any place used as storage for arms, something that poses a danger to our public," Youssef's statement said.

He stopped short of meeting Israel's demands to disarm militants, nor did he say what kind of action would be taken. But his statement went beyond previous Palestinian vows to confiscate guns carried in public.

"We will not enter Palestinian houses to search for arms, but we will not spare any effort to confiscate every weapon we find in the streets, because it would be a tool for chaos and crime," the statement said.

'Palestinian resistance is legitimate'

The al-Aqsa Brigade published an announcement blasting Youssef's statement. The organization's statement said that the weapons possessed by the "resistance" were not illegal weapons and that "The Palestinian resistance is a legitimate resistance and it shall persist."

"We will continue to hold our weapons in order to deal with the Zionist attack against our people," the statement said.

Sources in the Fatah military wing said that Youssef's statement provides protection to Israel, while the Israelis continue to "massacre" the Palestinian people, most recently by killing seven Palestinians on Thursday in Gaza.

The organization demanded that Youssef take every possible measure in order to defend the Palestinian people "Instead of attacking the resistance and its people."

Meanwhile, the IDF continued Saturday with a series of military attacks, including an IAF strike at several Qassam launching sites. No injuries were reported.

In an attempt to stop the firing of Qassam toward Israel, the IDF offered the Palestinians a new service – a telephone number for residents to call and inform on the names and location of Qassam rocket launchers.

Ali Waked contributed to the report