Rome  - Thousands of people, many waving Palestinian flags, on Saturday held marches and rallies in the Italian cities of Milan, Turin and Florence to protest the Israeli military incursion in the Gaza Strip.

Scuffles broke out when some demonstrators set fire to an Israeli flag while others attempted to stop them during an afternoon march in downtown Milan, news reports said.

Also in Milan, several hundred Muslims knelt in prayer near the city's main railway station.

Gaza - Nine Palestinians were killed and more wounded in several fresh Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip Saturday evening, medics and witnesses said.

The witnesses said that three civilians from the same family were killed in one strike on a house in Beit Lahia, a town in northern Gaza.

Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergency services in Gaza, said 31 Palestinians were killed Saturday and more than 50 wounded in airstrikes and tank-shelling on houses and cars in all areas of the enclave.

Paris  - Tens of thousands of people protested in Paris on Saturday Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip, with the organizers claiming 100,000 people at the demonstration.

The demonstration was organized by the "Collective for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians," an alliance of several lobby groups, trade unions and left-wing parties.

On January 3 in Paris, there were clashes when 21,000 people demonstrated for peace in the Gaza Strip.

There were protest marches in other French cities and towns.

Berlin  - More than 20,000 people took part in demonstrations in various cities in Germany on Saturday against Israel's 15-day bombardment and infantry deployment into the Gaza Strip.

The biggest such demonstration was in the western industrial city of Duisburg, where 10,000 demonstrators attended a rally organized by the Milli Gorus Islamic community, a Turkish Islamist group.

"We wanted to show our solidarity with the people on the ground," said a spokesman for Milli Gorus, which demands that Israel call off the offensive and end its long-term blockade of the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas.

Tel Aviv/Gaza/Cairo  - Israel continued its offensive in the Gaza Strip Saturday, killing at least 16 Palestinians, including seven from one family, witnesses and medics said, while the military threatened to expand its operations.

Residents in the enclave said they received leaflets, dropped from the air, warning them the military would scale up the campaign.

Oslo