GAZA CITY, October 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The incessant Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip claimed nine more Palestinian victims on Saturday, October 2, as the Palestinian government declared a state of emergency and appealed for immediate international intervention and help.

Four Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli strike on the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip in the small hours of Saturday, reported IslamOnline.net correspondent.

The Israeli raid initially claimed the lives of Fathi Abdel Raheem Afana, 37, and Ibrahim Hamdan, said Dr. Muawya Hassanein, director of the emergency department at the Palestinian health ministry.

He added that Waheed Talal Abdel Rahman, 21, and Eid Mohammad Afana, 41, later died of their injuries.

Meanwhile, Palestinian security sources said a Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire early Saturday at Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Mohammed al-Hashash, 63, died near his home during an Israeli incursion, they added.

Separately, Israeli forces gunned down Saturday four Palestinian resistance activists who attempted to cross into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The four managed to make their way several hundred meters past the Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel, said the Israeli army.

The new fatalities take to at least 54 the number of Palestinian victims of the new Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, unleashed on Tuesday night.

They also bring to 4,408 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada on September 28, 2000, including 3,385 Palestinians and 953 Israelis, according to an AFP tally.

Arafat (C), Qorei (2nd L), and cabinet members start their meeting with a prayer (AFP)

In a related development, the Palestinian government declared a state of emergency in the Palestinian territories and urged the quartet, sponsor of the moribund roadmap peace plan, to "intervene immediately to ensure the protection of our people."

It also denounced "world silence in the face of the magnitude of crimes committed".

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat appealed to the international community to swiftly put a stop to the "criminal and racist" Israeli military campaign underway in the Gaza Strip.

"I call on the entire world to act immediately and rapidly to stop the criminal and racist" attacks, Arafat told journalists outside his headquarters here after an emergency cabinet session.

In its state of emergency decree, the Palestinian cabinet ordered ministries and public institutions to concentrate their efforts on providing assistance to the people of Gaza.

It further called on international humanitarian organizations to provide aid to people in the Gaza Strip, notably in the Jabaliya refugee camp, which bore the brunt of the Israeli aggression.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei had cancelled a trip to Russia and Turkey to attend the cabinet emergency meeting.