RAFAH, May 24: Thousands of Palestinians packed a Rafah football stadium to pay their last respects to 16 victims of Israel's offensive here, hours after the army ended its occupation of the battered Tal al Sultan area.

About 10,000 Palestinians, some of them armed, marched through the streets of the poverty-stricken town in the southern Gaza Strip to the stadium and on to the main Rafah cemetery, where militants vowed to seek revenge.

"Our martyrs will savour the rest they deserve," said local Islamic Jihad commander Shaher Abu Radi. "We will continue your struggle until we have taken back our capital Al Quds (Jerusalem)."

The winding funeral cortege in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, came under Israeli machinegun fire, sending mourners scurrying for cover. Two Palestinians were wounded, according to sources at the Rafah hospital.

Amid global pressure on Israel to put a stop to the week-long raid in Rafah that has left 43 Palestinians dead, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet on Sunday that the operation "would continue for several days, but not for several weeks". -AFP