WASHINGTON, Dec 29: The White House said on Monday that Israel would continue its military operations against the Palestinians in Gaza, ignoring worldwide protests calling for forcing the Jewish state to stop the attacks.

“They are working on decreasing the number of Israeli citizens who are vulnerable ... so they are going to continue to deal at this time with the Hamas terrorist threat,” said White House national security adviser Gordon Johndroe.

But a coalition of anti-war activists announced in Washington on Monday that they planned to hold countrywide protests against the Israeli aggression on Tuesday.

The Answer Coalition, Muslim American Society Freedom, Free Palestine Alliance, National Council of Arab Americans, and Al-Awda, International Palestine Right to Return Coalition said they would observe Dec. 30 as a national day of action to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza and to demand an immediate end to “the murderous attacks carried out by the Israeli military against the people of Gaza.”

In Washington, there will be a demonstration at the State Department at 4:30 pm. Demonstrations will also be held in other cities across the United States.

The anti-war coalition has held huge demonstrations against the Iraq war and hopes to bring thousands of supporters on the streets to protest the Israeli aggression.

The White House, however, has made it clear that it stands solidly behind Israel on this issue. Mr Johndroe insisted that Hamas was responsible for the death of hundreds of Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes.

Mr Johndroe said the Bush administration was interested in getting back to the “roadmap” for peace and following the blueprint laid out in 2007 in Annapolis between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

But the Bush administration completes its second and final tenure on Jan. 20, when President-elect Barack Obama takes oath and therefore is unable to push for long-term solutions.

The clashes show that Israeli-Palestinian conflict will continue to be a major concern for Mr Obama as well. On Monday, he received intelligence briefings on the situation from the Bush officials and also discussed the issue with his national security team.

On Sunday, Mr Obama spoke to his Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton and incoming National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones.