03 January,2009 10:08 AM IST | | AP
US President George W Bush has branded the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel an 'act of terror' and outlined his own condition for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups.
Bush chose his taped, weekly radio address to speak for the first time about one of the bloodiest Mideast clashes in decades.
It began a week ago. Israeli warplanes have rained bombs on Gaza, targeting the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has traumatised southern Israel with intensifying rocket attacks.
"The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful cease-fire that is fully respected," Bush said on Friday.
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"Another one-way cease-fire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice - there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end."
The White House released Bush's radio address a day early. It would be aired today morning. More than 400 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed in the latest offensive.
The UN on Friday estimated that a quarter of the Palestinians killed were civilians. In their waning days in power, Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been working the phones with world allies to try organise a truce.
Bush offered no criticism of Israel, depicting the country's air assaults as a response to the attacks on its people. The White House will not comment on whether it views the Israeli response as proportionate or not to the scope of rocket attacks on Israel.
