Bush puts onus on Hamas for any Gaza truce

By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush insisted on Monday that any ceasefire to end the Gaza crisis must include provisions to prevent Hamas from continuing to use the coastal strip to fire rockets into Israel.

Bush made clear while he is concerned about deteriorating conditions for Palestinians living in Gaza that he puts the onus on Hamas, and he stopped short of calling for an immediate halt to the fighting as some European leaders have done.

"I understand Israel's desire to protect itself, and that the situation now taking place in Gaza was caused by Hamas," Bush said in his first public response to Israel's ground offensive in the territory.

Israel, which so far has resisted growing international pressure to halt its offensive, says its objective is not to re-occupy the Hamas-ruled strip but to put a stop to cross-border Hamas rocket salvos.

Bush spoke in the Oval Office as Israeli tanks, planes and ground forces pounded Gaza and Israel's defense minister said the offensive against Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave would go on until Israel was safe.

Bush, who steps down on January 20 when President-elect Barack Obama takes office, stuck to his position that Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction, must first halt rocket fire at Israel for a truce to take shape. Many in the Arab world consider Bush biased in favor of Israel.

"ONE PRESIDENT AT A TIME"

Obama, who has promised to make Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking a high priority, remained largely silent on Gaza, but said Bush administration officials were briefing him regularly on the situation.

"When it comes to foreign affairs, it is particularly important to adhere to the principle of one president at a time, because there are delicate negotiations taking place right now, and we can't have two voices coming out of the United States when you have so much at stake," Obama told reporters in Washington.

Bush, speaking to reporters after a White House meeting with a Sudanese official, said Hamas was to blame for the Gaza crisis. "Any ceasefire must have the conditions in it so that Hamas does not use Gaza as a place from which to launch rockets," Bush said.

International efforts to secure a ceasefire moved ahead with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Middle East special envoy Tony Blair visiting the region, but they had no apparent immediate impact on the fighting. The death toll in besieged Gaza rose to at least 541 people over the 10-day offensive.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino urged Israel to be "very cautious when it comes to civilian casualties."

"The United States is concerned about the humanitarian crisis. We care about the people of Gaza and therefore have provided millions of dollars of fresh aid to the United Nations to help," Bush said.

"All of us of course would like to see violence stop," Bush said, but added that the cessation should not come at the expense of steps to prevent a Gaza crisis from recurring.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was pursuing a ceasefire that would end Hamas rocket fire, reopen border crossings and cut off smuggling from tunnels in Egypt, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)