CRAWFORD (USA), Dec 30: President George Bush on Tuesday urged Palestinian leaders to boost efforts to end the violence in the Gaza Strip by working towards a truce respected by Hamas militants.

Bush telephoned Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Salam Fayyad to discuss a “sustainable ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

“They agreed that for any ceasefire to be effective, it must be respected, particularly by Hamas,” he told reporters.

“I think a ceasefire that is a sustainable and durable, what we’ve been calling for, is one that is exactly that. It’s lasting.

“We don’t just want a ceasefire for the sake of a ceasefire only for violence to start up immediately. Or within the next few weeks. That serves no one’s interests.”

Israel was on Tuesday mulling a proposed 48-hour truce after world leaders urged an end to the violence as Israeli warplanes pummelled Hamas targets in the battered Gaza Strip for a fourth day.

Israeli officials have warned that the onslaught, in which at least 368 Palestinians have been killed, could continue for weeks as Israel seeks to halt Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said that Abbas had discussed with Bush “how to immediately stop the fire in the Gaza Strip and how to get back to the truce.” “Abbas asked to find as soon as possible a solution to the situation in Gaza,” he added.

Johndroe renewed a plea for the violence to end, adding other governments in the region were in touch with Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in elections last year.

“This sort of violence is in no one’s interest. So all of those governments as they have been in the past are committed to assisting with the current situation,” he said.

“One, we want to see an end to the violence, but, two, we want to see an end to the violence for the long term,” Johndroe added.

And he insisted Hamas had to stop its attacks on southern Israel.

“What about the three people that I believe I saw reported today that were killed in Israel by rockets?

EU MINISTERS: The world’s top diplomats urged Israel and Hamas to halt their conflict on Tuesday, amid mounting concern over the bloodshed and fears the conflict could escalate.

European foreign ministers met in Paris to demand a truce, while the members of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet — the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States — held a crisis conference call.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was joined on the call by foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia, Condoleezza Rice of the United States and Bernard Kouchner of France, which currently chairs the European Union.

The Quartet’s peace envoy, Tony Blair, was also on the call, along with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

A Paris-based diplomat confirmed that the call had taken place, but said it was not clear whether a statement would be released.

Lavrov’s office said he had had an earlier exchange with Rice in which both “called for an immediate stop to violence and a resumption of the state of calm.” In Washington, Rice continued a round of calls to Israel and Arab capitals.

“Right now she is working extremely hard to try to get both sides to agree that a ceasefire can be re-established and that that ceasefire can be fully respected,” State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

Kouchner, meanwhile, hosted a meeting of European Union foreign ministers aiming to agree their own version of the ceasefire demand, and in particular to insist upon a break in the fighting to allow medical aid into Gaza.—Agencies