(Adds Blair, Iraq) GAZA, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Israeli war planes and helicopters pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 205 Palestinians. Here are some of the key comments: ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER EHUD BARAK: "There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight." HAMAS ARMED WING SPOKESMAN ABU UBAIDA: The group will "teach the enemy a lesson they will never forget". ISLAMIC JIHAD: "All fighters are ordered to respond to the Israeli slaughter." NABIL ABU RDAINAH, AIDE TO PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS: "President Abbas demands that the Israeli government stop this aggression immediately ... and calls on the international community to intervene to stop the aggression." EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JAVIER SOLANA: "I call for an immediate cessation of military actions on both sides. The EU has repeatedly condemned rocket attacks against Israel. The current Israeli strikes are inflicting an unacceptable toll on Palestinian civilians and will only worsen the humanitarian crisis as well as complicate the search for a peaceful solution. "Passages in and out of Gaza should be reopened to allow humanitarian and regular commercial flows. As we have already said, the EU is ready to resume its Monitoring Mission at Rafah." WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN GORDON JOHNDROE: "Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people. "The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza." U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON IN A STATEMENT: "The Secretary-General is deeply alarmed by today's heavy violence and bloodshed in Gaza, and the continuation of violence in southern Israel." EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK, QUOTED BY MENA: "Egypt condemns the Israeli military attacks." "Egypt will continue its contacts to prepare an atmosphere conducive to restoring the period of calm and achieving reconciliation between the Palestinian groups." MIDDLE EAST ENVOY TONY BLAIR: "We need to devise a new strategy for Gaza, which brings that territory back under the legitimate rule of the Palestinian Authority in a manner which ends their suffering and fully protects the security of Israel." BRITISH PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN: "I understand the Israeli government's sense of obligation to its population. Israel needs to meet its humanitarian obligations, act in a way to further the long-term vision of a two-state solution, and do everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties." FRENCH PRESIDENCY STATEMENT: "He (French President Nicolas Sarkozy) demands an immediate stop to the firing of rockets on Israel and to the Israeli bombings in Gaza and calls for all parties to use restraint. IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN HASAN QASHQAVI QUOTED BY STATE TELEVISION: "The raids against innocent people are unforgiveable and unacceptable."IRAQI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ALI AL-DABBAGH:"The Iraqi government asks for military actions to be stopped, for civilians' lives not to be put at risk and for avoiding the policy of mass punishment. It asks the international community to carry out its duty and take steps to stop these attacks."RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT:"Moscow deems it necessary to stop large scale military action against Gaza, which had already led to big casualties and suffering among civilian Palestinian population ... we (also) call on Hamas leadership to stop shelling Israeli territory." ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE: "Prime Minister Berlusconi hopes that this new wave of clashes does not degenerate further and asks all parties involved to immediately cease the launching of rockets at Israel as well as the bombings in the Gaza Strip." VATICAN SPOKESMAN REV. FEDERICO LOMBARDI "Hamas is a prisoner to a logic of hate, Israel to a logic of faith in force as the best response to hate. One must continue to search for a different way out, even if that may seem impossible". LIBYAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: "The ministry calls on Arab states to take a practical and decisive action to deter this Nazi savage action, including the withdrawal of the 'Arab initiative'," it said in a reference to a Saudi-backed Arab peace proposal to end the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Sudanese and Palestinians living in Sudan demonstrate against the Israeli air strikes in Gaza, outside the U.N. offices in Khartoum December 27, 2008. Israeli warplanes and helicopters pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza ...
Egypt
