Lacarna, Cyprus  - Peace activists abandoned an attempt reach Gaza with a ship loaded with aid for Gaza's Palestinians on early Tuesday and returned to Cyprus, a spokesman of Free Gaza, a US NGO, told Greek radio.

Their ship, Arion, was urged by Israeli war ships about 80 nautical miles off Gaza via loudspeaker and radio several times to leave the region, as the sea's off gaza were off limits, the activists said.

Amman - King Abdullah II of Jordan conferred Wednesday with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and stressed the need for the world community to give "immediate priority" to stopping the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, according to a royal court statement.

Riyadh - Saudi Arabia called for an emergency meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh on Thursday to discuss the Israeli offensive on Gaza, a foreign ministry statement said on Wednesday.

"Due to the escalation in the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, King Abdullah called for an emergency meeting for the GCC countries in the Saudi capital," said the statement.

The Gulf Cooperation Council is a trade bloc involving the six Arab states of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Damascus/Tel Aviv  - Hamas, the Islamist group controlling the Gaza Strip, might support a ceasefire under certain conditions, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Wednesday in an interview broadcast by the BBC.

"They (Hamas) are for the ceasefire. But when we say ceasefire, we don't say ceasefire for just three days. It has to be sustainable," said al-Assad.

New York  - The Israel-Hamas fighting has inflicted a terrifying and psychological impact on the civilian population in Gaza Strip, particularly on children and their parents, the UN said Wednesday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry updated at the same time the number of casualties, as of Tuesday, in the fighting that erupted on December 27 with heavy Israeli airstrikes against targets in Gaza. It said 971 have been killed, of whom 311 are children and 76 women.

Istanbul - Muslims around the world should come to the support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to a message allegedly released by Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network on the internet Wednesday.

Muslims should either directly support the fight against the Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip or, at the very least, provide financial support, bin Laden said in the 22-minute long audio message.