Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekaton Sunday accused Israel that it is burying the peace process after it enlarged military operations in the Gaza Strip and killed more than 500 Palestinians.

"The Israeli government is burying the peace process by escalating its military actions in the Gaza Strip," Erekat said in a statement sent to the press hours after Israel launched a ground operation into Gaza on Saturday night.

Smokes rise following an Israeli airstrike on an area known to have smuggling tunnels in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, January 3, 2009. The Israel Defense Forces Saturday evening began its ground incursion into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, vowing to destroy "terror infrastructure" of Hamas. And more than 450 Palestinians has been killed and some 2,300 wounded during Israeli ongoing intensive airstrikes since December 27, 2008.[Xinhua]

He added that "the peace negotiations were buried by the Israeli bullets under the wheels of the tanks and by the Israeli military aggression that completely contradicts with the peace negotiations and the peace process."

Israel began an offensive on December 27, carrying out hundreds of intensive and unprecedented airstrikes on hundreds of targets, which Israel said belong to Islamic Hamas movement.

Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian health ministry, said that 514 Palestinians were killed and over that 2500 wounded since the start of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli soldiers drive an armored car in Gaza strip, January 4, 2009. [Yin Bogu/Xinhua]

"The international community should understand that there is a severe and real humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip," said Erekat, adding "the world must move right now to end this aggression."

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Energy Authorities warned on Sunday of a humanitarian, medical and environmental crisis if electricity is kept cut off for more days in the Gaza Strip.

The energy authorities said that the Israeli airstrikes and ground operations had destroyed main electricity lines and wires all-over the Gaza Strip, adding that the net of electricity in the enclave is completely damaged.

Palestinian firemen operate on a fire at a building used by Hamas members which was hit during an Israeli strike in Gaza City, January 3, 2009. The Israel Defense Forces Saturday evening began its ground incursion into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, vowing to destroy "terror infrastructure" of Hamas. And more than 450 Palestinians has been killed and some 2,300 wounded during Israeli ongoing intensive airstrikes since December 27, 2008. [Xinhua]

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2009)