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PARIS: Muslim nations angrily condemned Israel on Monday over air attacks on the Gaza Strip which have killed more than 300 Palestinians while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon deplored the violence.
But the United States demanded that Hamas agree to respect a "sustainable and durable ceasefire."
"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to Ban and other world leaders by telephone to help restore a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the State Department said.
Anti-Israel demonstrations were held in many countries following a series of protests over the weekend, and efforts to hold talks between Syria and Israel were suspended.
Thousands of Iranians, joined by high-ranking officials and military commanders, shouted "Down With USA" and "Down With Israel" in Tehran on Monday. Many carried banners reading "Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth" and "We should all rise and destroy Israel."
A hardline Iranian student group said that it was recruiting volunteers to fight Israel in response to a decree issued by Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday stating that anyone who died in the defence of Gaza would be deemed a martyr.
Khamenei on Sunday urged Muslim states to punish Israel. Tehran is a staunch supporter of Hamas but rejects allegations that it supplies arms to the movement.
In Greece, riot police fired tear gas to keep protesters away from the Israeli embassy during a demonstration against the Israeli offensive. Some protesters beat shoes against photographs of the US president.
South Africa summoned the Israeli ambassador to express its "grave concern" at "the brutal assault" on Gaza, an official statement said.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel blamed Hamas for its firing of rockets into Israel and the abandonment of its ceasefire, her spokesman said on Monday.
In a telephone call on Sunday evening, Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed that responsibility "clearly and exclusively lies with Hamas," spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters.
Saudi Arabia sent two hospital aircraft with medical personnel to Gaza to help the injured and to evacuate the severely wounded to its hospitals.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, also offered medical aid, and joined Afghanistan, Malaysia, Pakistan and other Muslim nations in condemning Israel.
Algeria sent 61 tonnes of food and medicine to Gaza on Monday and three cargo planes are to leave for Cairo on Tuesday with more than 60 tonnes of food, medicine and medical equipment, Minister for National Solidarity Djamel Ould Abbes said.
There were fresh calls for a halt to the fighting, which erupted after the breakdown of a truce between Israel and Hamas.
UN chief Ban "deplores that violence is continuing today, and he strongly urges once again an immediate stop to all acts of violence," his spokeswoman Michele Montas said in a statement issued late Sunday.
The UN Security Council issued a non-binding statement calling for "an immediate halt to all violence." The European Union has also called for a ceasefire.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Gaza Strip hospitals were in a state of chaos.
Jordan's King Abdullah II urged the US president to help end Israel's air blitz, the palace said.
"Effective international efforts must be launched to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza and end the suffering of the Palestinians," the king told Bush over the telephone, according to a palace statement.
China's Vice Premier Li Keqiang said in a statement: "The Chinese side is shocked and seriously concerned over the current military operations in Gaza that have caused a large number of deaths and injuries."
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned the Middle East was facing a "dangerous and dark moment" and renewed his call for an end to the fighting.
Miliband told BBC radio: "I think that any innocent loss of life is unacceptable and in this case there have been massive casualties, some of them civilians and some of them children."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on his Israeli counterpart Tipzi Livni to "urgently halt" the military action.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy discussed possible ways to end the Gaza crisis in a telephone call with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, his office said.
Sarkozy is to meet the Israeli foreign minister in Paris in early January.
David Axelrod, a top aide Barack Obama, told CBS television the US president-elect was committed to achieving peace in the Middle East. - AFP/de
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