The White House has said that Hamas "thugs" were responsible for provoking the Israeli air raids that killed and injured hundreds of people in the Gaza Strip.

Gordon Johndroe, the Bush administration spokesman, said Israel must try to avoid civilian casualties, but laid the blame for deaths on the Palestinian groups that controls the impoverished territory.

 "These people [Hamas] are nothing but thugs, and so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas," he said.

The remarks late on Saturday came as the United Nations held an emergency meeting to discuss the attacks, and just hours after the Arab League announced it was preparing to hold a summit in Doha, Qatar on January 2.

Johndroe said the US wanted to see the six-month truce between Israel and Hamas, which ended on December 19, restored, but that this could only be done if Palestinian fighters end their missile attacks on Israel.

"If Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel, then Israel would not have a need for strikes in Gaza," he told reporters. "What we've got to see is Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel."

'Israeli aggression'

George Bush, the US president, discussed the fighting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Stephen Hadley, the US national security adviser, and Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, Johndroe said.