Thousands take to streets for Palestinian funerals

THOUSANDS of Palestinians took to the streets yesterday for the mass funeral of 12 Palestinians who were killed during a raid by Israeli troops on a Hamas stronghold following a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Gunmen marching among the crowd called for revenge, and one armed militiaman speaking from a loudspeaker warned the new Palestinian government against co-operating with a fresh peace plan or trying to disarm Palestinian militias.

Palestinian officials and Israeli opposition leaders accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of using Thursday's raid in Gaza to undercut the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, before he has a chance to fulfill a promise to get armed groups to stop their fight against Israel. The raid came just a day after international mediators presented the so-called "road map" to peace.

A Sharon adviser said Israel would not halt its anti-terror campaign and would not give Abbas, sworn in Wednesday, a grace period to crack down on militants.

A 13th person killed in the Gaza battle, two-year-old Amer Ayad, was buried on Thursday. The boy was hit by a bullet to the head while he was near a window in his home, his father said.

The other dead were eight gunmen and four civilians two boys, ages 13 and 15, a taxi driver and a mentally disabled man.

On Wednesday, the Hamas militant group and the Al Aqsa brigade jointly carried out a suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv cafe, killing three people. Israel responded with the Gaza raid, and more than 200 Palestinian gunmen fought back. Sixty-five Palestinians were wounded, including 15 critically.