Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has called for a new uprising against Israel after air strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 225 Palestinians.

"I call upon you (Palestinians) to carry out a third intifada," Meshaal told Al-Jazeera television in an interview. "Resistance will continue through suicide missions," he added.

He called for a "military intifada against the Zionist enemy", as well as "a peaceful intifada internally."

Earlier, Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, accused Israel of a "massacre" of Palestinians. "Palestine has never witnessed an uglier massacre," Haniyeh said in a statement broadcast by Al-Aqsa TV channel.

In Lebanon, Hizbullah called for speedy global and U.N. action against Israel. "What is going on in Gaza Strip is an Israeli war crime and represents genocide," said a Hizbullah statement.  It also "calls for speedy U.N. action as well as action by the international community because silence is tantamount to complicity in this aggression," added the statement.

"The nations are requested to stand firm against the Israeli barbarism -- covered internationally and by America -- to halt the ongoing massacre," the statement said. 

© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)