Pakistan Condemns Israeli Air Strikes on Gaza

Pakistan on Friday condemned Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip and vowed to stand by the people of Palestine against "Israeli aggression".

"Pakistan strongly condemns Israeli air attacks in Gaza that have targeted not only the Hamas leadership but also innocent civilians," Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Pakistan branded the Israeli assaults, in which 23 Palestinians have been killed, as a grave violation of international law and called upon the international community "to come together to stop the Israeli aggression".

"An escalation in the violence could lead to a spreading of the conflict to engulf the region," it warned.

There are no diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Israel and the foreign ministry said it has "consistently extended unequivocal and unreserved support to the Palestinian cause".

In a separate statement, the office of Pakistan's prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi telephoned Friday to ask for Pakistan's support on the Palestine issue.

"While talking to President Morsi, the prime minister said that unless the Palestinian problem is resolved, peace in the Middle East will remain elusive," it said.

"He assured that the people of Pakistan will stand with the people of Palestine at this difficult time as they have always done in the past."

Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil visited Gaza Friday vowing to boost efforts to secure a truce to end the bloodletting.

Israel on Wednesday launched its harshest Gaza operation in four years by killing the Hamas military chief, Ahmed Jaabari, in a surgical air strike on a car traveling in Gaza City.