Iran urges action to "Israeli" Gaza raids

In a telephone conversation with his Syrian and Qatari counterparts on Saturday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the 'Israeli' raids, which have left at least 210 people dead.

Syria has common borders with ‘Israel'. Qatar holds the presidency of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), which consists of the Arab Persian Gulf littoral states.

The Saturday onslaught in northern Gaza came after a six-month Egypt-mediated truce between ‘Israel' and Hamas expired on December 19.

Tel Aviv had long threatened to launch a major attack on the strip to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on ‘Israel'.

"Hamas was warned a few times in a variety of ways, but I can't elaborate on the warnings," said Maj. Avital Leibovich, a spokeswoman for the ‘Israeli' military.

Israel placed the Gaza Strip under a blockade after the democratically-elected Palestinian government, Hamas, took control of the coastal area in mid-June 2007.

President Ahmadinejad called on the Islamic world to prepare for an appropriate response to the Israeli attacks.

Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, strongly condemned massacre of the Palestinian people in Gaza, saying the attacks were a clear violation of international regulations.