DAMASCUS, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Syria's National Progressive Front (NPF), a political coalition led by the ruling al-Baath Party, condemned on Sunday the intensive Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip as a "bloody war," the official SANA news agency reported.

    The NPF condemned "the bloody war waged by Israel which used the most advanced weapons and ammunition against the innocent Palestinian citizens" in a statement.

    "The holocaust perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against children, women and the elderly in Gaza is unmatched in history, and that it embodies the criminal and terrorist behavior of Israel," said the statement.

    It noted that "the war of extermination launched by Israel against the Palestinians is taking place with the U.S. support and in full sight of the whole world, without moral or humane inhibitions."

    The NPF's central leadership called on Arab masses, national forces and public organizations to work for ending the Israeli aggression and lifting the siege, demanding that Arab governments take responsibility for ending this barbaric aggression.

    It highlighted the importance of Palestinian unity of ranks in confronting the constant Israeli aggression and ending this open war against Palestinians.

    The besieged Gaza Strip is under intensive Israeli air strikes on Sunday for the second successive day, in which 285 Palestinians have been killed so far in a powerful offensive which the Jewish state said was aimed to halt nearly daily cross-border rocket attacks.