Morocco stands up for the people of Gaza

Harsh remarks from across the world followed on the heels of the UN Security Council's failure to issue a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire despite hours of closed-door talks.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, on Sunday pledged an additional $4.2 million of emergency aid for Gaza and called on Israel to respect international law.

"Blocking access to people who are suffering and dying is also a breach of humanitarian law," Louis Michel, EU's humanitarian aid commissioner, said in a statement.

"I call on the Israeli authorities to respect their international obligations and ensure a 'humanitarian space' for the delivery of vital relief," he said.

Here in Morocco, a demonstration against the Israeli offensive in Gaza has drawn tens of thousands of people to the streets of Rabat.

Police have put the number of demonstrators at 50,000, according to the official MAP news agency. But organizers say even more turned out for the peaceful march in this Muslim kingdom on the Atlantic coast.

Protesters emphasized their solidarity with the Palestinians in general and with Gaza residents in particular during Sunday's four-hour march, which coincided with large demonstrations in Turkey and Lebanon.

It closed with call to the Arab world to continue supporting the Palestinian cause and denouncing Israel's air and land offensive against Hamas.

Several countries have called on Israel to exercise restraint as the civilian death toll continues to rise.

Russia on Sunday said it was "extremely concerned" by Israel's land operation in Gaza and said it was sending a special envoy to the region to help bring about a ceasefire by both sides.

Thousands of demonstrators in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, denounced Israel as a "terrorist" force and called on the government to send troops to fight Israeli forces.

"Indonesia's military must go to war against Israel, not just as peacekeepers. We ask the government to send troops there, not just medicine," Farid Wadjdi, the local head of the Hizbut Tahrir movement, was quoted as saying by news website Detikcom.

Iran, which has seen angry protests since the Israeli raids began last week, also added its voice.

Ali Larijani, the parliament speaker, praised Palestinian resistance against the ground invasion.

"Zionists should know that Gaza will become their cemetery," he said on Sunday.

Even Egypt, which has faced criticism from the Arab and Muslim world, condemned the Israeli incursion, and called on the UN to work to end the violence.

In Britain, where one of the world's largest demonstrations against the Israeli incursion took place on Saturday, Gordon Brown, the prime minister, took a more measured approach, saying that Israel's ground offensive had created a "very dangerous moment" before calling for increased efforts on both sides to secure a ceasefire.

"First we need an immediate ceasefire, and that includes a stopping of the rockets into Israel. Secondly, we need some resolution of the problem over arms trafficking into Gaza and, thirdly, we need the borders and the crossings open and that will need some international solution."

For its part, the US state department said it told the Israeli government that any military action should be "mindful of the potential consequences to civilians".

It also condemned Hamas, saying the group was holding the people of Gaza "hostage" and contributing to a "very bad daily life" for the coastal territory's residents.

In Australia thousands also marched through central Sydney, Brisbane and the southern city of Melbourne.

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