WASHINGTON, Jan 3: US President George W. Bush on Saturday blamed Hamas for the current crisis in Gaza, ignoring tens of thousands of protesters who marched across world capitals to demand a halt to Israeli bombings.

In Washington, anti-war protesters gathered outside the Israeli Embassy on Friday afternoon to urge Israeli authorities to “end the genocide of the Palestinian people”.

They later marched to the Egyptian Embassy to urge President Hosni Mubarak to open the Rafah crossing for sending food and other emergency supplies to the Palestinian people.

In his weekly radio address, President Bush said he had been monitoring the situation with his national security team and had been in contact with leaders throughout the region. He said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “is actively engaged in diplomacy” following the outbreak of fighting between Israel and Hamas — which took control of Gaza in 2007 from Fatah, the governing party in the Palestinian Authority.

“This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas — a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel’s destruction,” Mr Bush said.

The US president said the current round of fighting in the area began when Hamas announced the end of a ceasefire brokered by Egypt and “soon unleashed a barrage of rockets and mortars that deliberately targeted innocent Israelis — an act of terror that is opposed by the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people, President (Mehmud) Abbas.”

President Bush said he was “deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation facing the Palestinian people” but did he not urge Israel to stop the bombings. “In addition to reducing humanitarian suffering, all nations must work towards a lasting end to the violence in the Holy Land, and a return to the path of peace,” he said. “The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected.”

Mr Bush’s comments came two days after Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, speaking in Paris, rejected calls for a humanitarian ceasefire. “There is no humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, she said, “and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce”.

The protesters in Washington, however, showed “complete solidarity with the beleaguered Palestinian people of Israeli-Occupied Gaza,” as one of the speakers said.

“People were dying even before the bombings started,” said another speaker. “They are dying because they are not getting food and medicine.”

Yet another speaker said the protesters did not expect much from President Bush who ends his tenure on Jan 20. “There are only two men who can end this genocide: US President-elect Barack Obama and Egypt’s President Mubarak,” he said.

“When Russia attacked Georgia, he spoke up, why is Mr Obama silent now?” he asked.

President Mubarak, he said, could end the suffering of the Palestinian people by opening the Rafah crossing, a vital supply line from Egypt to the Palestinian territory.

Meanwhile, huge demonstrations were held in cities across Europe where thousands of chanting, banner-waving demonstrators marched on the streets to demand a halt to Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip.

Protests were held in Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain as the Israeli offensive entered its second week. Kuwaitis also took to the streets, a day after bigger Middle East rallies.