UNITED NATIONS, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians repeated on Monday its calls for the UN Security Council to live up to its duty and intervene in the continuing and deadly Palestinian-Israeli violence.

    In a letter to Council President Wang Guangya of China, Palestinian observer to the UN Riyad Mansour denounced Israel for intensifying its military campaign against the Palestinian people, including two extrajudicial executions of Palestinian radicals.

    Mansour said Israeli military operations have since Friday killed at least 18 Palestinians, including a child, bringing to 3,821 the number of Palestinians killed in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict since September 2000.

    "The occupying power's continuation of its illegal policy of extrajudicial executions, which is in grave violation of international law, including international humanitarian law, must be condemned by the international community and halted immediately," read the letter.

    "In this regard, urgent measures must be undertaken by the international community to bring an end to these Israeli crimes and to stem this downward spiral of developments in the occupied Palestinian territory," Mansour wrote.

    "The United Nations Security Council in particular, in upholding its duty to maintain international peace and security, should take action," he stressed.

    Israel claimed that its recent military actions were in retaliation for rocket attacks against Israel by Palestinian militants. Enditem