Gaza death toll tops 900

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel won renewed support from its key ally the United States on Monday when President George W. Bush said a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip depended on Hamas ending its rocket fire on Israeli towns.

As the Palestinian death toll passed 900, including many civilians, troops tightened their grip around urban areas in search of elusive guerrillas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would pursue the 17-day-old war as long as it took.

Troops and tanks, backed by warplanes and helicopters that mounted more than 25 air strikes, probed into guerrilla defenses around the city of Gaza, wary of snipers and booby traps. Hamas fighters kept largely out of sight, firing several rockets into Israel and bracing for an all-out assault that may yet come.

As international diplomats worked with Egypt on a truce plan, an Israeli military spokesman said the army had yet to launch a much-heralded "Phase 3" of the war, following the initial air campaign and then ground advance.

But reserve units had moved in, he said, to hold positions and free up regulars for thrusts deeper into the city of Gaza.

Hamas's government leader in Gaza made a rare television and radio broadcast from a secret location, promising that "victory is at hand" and saying the many deaths there would haunt Bush.

The bloodshed has burst open fragile faultlines in the map of Middle East diplomacy, with the Bush administration in its final week standing firm behind Israel, European governments pressing it to call off its attacks and Arab leaders speaking out against the Jewish state.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia, an oil power and one of several Arab governments whose pro-American stance is far from popular with its people, accused Israel of "racist extermination" and said it hoped Bush's successor Barack Obama would work swiftly to resolve the 60-year-old Palestinian issue.

BUSH CALLS ON HAMAS TO CHOOSE

Bush said Hamas Islamists, who won a 2006 parliamentary election and seized control of Gaza 18 months ago, had to act to end the misery of the enclave's 1.5 million people.

"I'm for a sustainable ceasefire, and a definition of sustainable ceasefire is Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel ... I happen to believe the choice is Hamas's to make," he said.

Supporting Israel's view that "Operation Cast Lead" is one of self-defense against rockets that had killed 18 people since 2001, Bush said Israel should be mindful of "innocent folks."

Figures from Palestinian medics indicate at least 909 people have been killed. The health minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government said close to 400 of those were woman and children.

Medics said Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians, including at least five civilians, in Monday's violence. Israel says 10 of its soldiers and three civilians have been killed since it launched its offensive on December 27.

Saudi Arabia's cabinet said in a statement: "The extermination Israel is launching upon the Palestinian people in Gaza has denuded Israeli leaders of humanity and places their policies in the ranks of racist extermination."