Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called Israel’s attack on Gaza an act of genocide, accusing the Netanyahu government of a “war against the Palestinian people as a whole … defending [its West Bank] settlements.” In Washington, the PA’s chief envoy to the United States urged President Obama to use American leverage over Israel to stop the attack.

Maen Rashid Areikat, chief PLO envoy to Israel: “I would like to say to President Obama that there is no — you cannot equate between an occupied people and an occupier. And the rising death toll on the Palestinian side tells clearly who is the party that is suffering the most from this violence. … I think the United States should rein in Israel. They are the only country that can rein in Israel, because they are the country that provides the political, military, economic and financial support for Israel, and without that support, Israel cannot escape being accountable for their actions.”