France seeks aid truce for Gaza: diplomatic source

PARIS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is trying to negotiate a humanitarian truce to halt Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip and let in medical aid, a diplomatic source said on Monday.

The source said Kouchner had spoken to several European and Middle Eastern foreign ministers during the day, including Israel's Tzipi Livni and Egypt's Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

France, which holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of the month, has said it is ready to send more aid to Gaza.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday to discuss "possible ways of resolving the crisis," Sarkozy's office said.

It was not immediately clear whether Kouchner had received a positive response from Israel, which launched its attack on Gaza three days ago, killing more than 325 Palestinians so far in the deadliest violence in the territory in decades.

Israel has said the offensive was aimed at halting rocket attacks against it.

"France and the European Union, which are already the main providers of humanitarian and economic support for the population of Gaza, are ready to increase their aid to meet urgent needs," Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.

"We are, in particular, ready to provide additional food and medical aid to the population in Gaza," he said during a regular weekly news conference.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; editing by Andrew Dobbie)