The United States on Tuesday reiterated its call for a "durable and sustainable" ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants ruling the Gaza Strip.
"The ceasefire, in order to be productive, has to be maintained, "State Department Spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters."It can't be a ceasefire in which one side uses it to launch periodic attacks."
Following her telephone talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as well as the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Monday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Jordan's King Abdullah II on the Gaza crisis on Tuesday.
"She is working extremely hard to try and get both sides to agree that a ceasefire can be re-established and that ceasefire can be fully respected," Duguid said.
In its reprisal strikes, Israeli warplanes have been bombing Hamas targets in Gaza since Saturday, killing some 360 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,000 in the region.
"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire," US National Security Council Spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement on Monday.
"That is the objective to which all parties need to be working. That is what the United States is working towards," the Spokesman said.
The Bush administration condemned Hamas for its repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel, saying that the Islamic resistant group should be held responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza.