Berlin - Germany on Monday defended Israel's military action in Gaza, saying it was taken to protect the country's civilian population from missile attacks by Palestinian militants.

The decision by the radical Hamas movement to end a six-month truce with Israel and continue firing rockets at the Jewish state was to blame for the crisis, government spokesman Thomas Steg said.

"It is the legitimate right of Israel to protect its civilian population and to defend its territory," Steg told a press briefing in Berlin.

He called on Hamas to cease firing Kassem rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and villages immediately so that Israel can end its military operation.

More than 340 Palestinians have been killed and many more wounded since Israel launched airstrikes in the enclave on Saturday, eight days after Hamas ended the truce. Israel said hundreds of rockets had been fired at its villages since the truce ended.

More than 1,000 people demonstrated in Berlin on Monday against Israel's military action. Police said the protest, organized by various Arab groups, passed off without incident.

Ahmed Muhaisen, chairman of the Palestinian community in the German capital, said the protesters wanted to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation in Gaza during a lengthy telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday evening, the government spokesman said.

The prime minister told the chancellor that Israel's airstrikes were directed against terrorist targets and not against Gaza's civilian population, Steg said.

Merkel urged Olmert to ensure that steps were taken to avoid civilian casualties and allow urgently needed humanitarian supplies across the border into Gaza, he added.

Steg said the conflict could only be resolved through a political process at the end of which there was a two-state solution.

On Sunday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed the deteriorating situation by telephone with European Union foreign policy supremo Javier Solana and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country takes over the rotating EU presidency on Thursday.

The trio called for steps to ensure the crisis does not worsen. (dpa)