Mauritania calls back Israel ambassador for talks

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritania has called back its ambassador to Israel for consultations, Mauritanian government sources said on Monday.

Protesters took to the streets of the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott last week to demand that the Islamic country sever diplomatic ties with Israel after the Jewish state launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

"We have recalled our ambassador in Tel Aviv for consultations," said a Foreign Ministry source who declined to be named, adding that the diplomat was on his way home.

The northwest African state is one of only three Arab countries to have diplomatic relations with Israel, along with Egypt and Jordan.

Another source close to Mauritania's ruling military junta said Mauritania condemned the Israeli military action.

"Our position as regards cutting diplomatic ties with Israel will depend on how things move on the ground, on the military situation, and on the possibility of appeasement in the Gaza Strip," he said.

The ambassador, Ahmed Ould Teguedi, has held his post since Mauritania opened relations with Israel in 1999.

Gunmen attacked the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott last February after political parties called for then-President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi to break off ties with Israel to reflect anger over events in Gaza.

Protests against the latest attacks in Gaza, which have killed more than 500 people, have broken out across the Arab world, while diplomats have called for a ceasefire.

(Reporting by Hachem Sidi Salem and Vincent Fertey; Writing by Daniel Magnowski; Editing by Alistair Thomson and Giles Elgood)