RAMALLAH, July 12 -- A Fatah official said on Wednesday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to resign amid stepped-up Israeli offensives into Gaza.

Abu Mazen, or Abbas' threat of quit "was serious rather than maneuver", said Hatem Abdel Qader, a senior leader of the Fatah movement led by Abbas.

He told reporters that international and Arab sides dedicated to mediation over the Gaza crisis were trying to dissuade Abbas from resigning or dissolving the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

Qader warned of more armed resistances if PNA collapses in the wake of Abbas' resign, saying "if the PNA collapses, the Palestinian people will be asked to do their duty against the occupation."

He stressed the importance to end the ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza, where nine people were killed at predawn Wednesday in a fresh Israeli airstrike on a house of a Hamas activist in Gaza City.

Israeli troops pressed ahead a massive air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on June 28 in a bid to free an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants and halt Palestinian rocket attacks.