Abbas suspends talks with Israel

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suspended peace negotiations with Israel on Sunday, demanding it end an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 100 Palestinians, many of them civilians.

The United States, sponsor of the recently revived peace process, said talks must continue. It also called for an end to violence between Israel and Abbas's Palestinian rivals in Gaza.

But Israel's defence minister said the assault would go on.

Eight people died on Sunday, a day after 61 were killed in the bloodiest day for Palestinians since their 1980s uprising.

Israel says it is acting in self-defence to curb rocket attacks by the Hamas Islamists who run the enclave. It shrugged off a U.N. accusation that it had used "excessive force".

Abbas ordered "the suspension of negotiations ... until the aggression is stopped", a senior aide said at Abbas's offices in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The president stopped short of declaring dead U.S.-brokered talks on Palestinian statehood that are opposed by Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from his secular Fatah movement in June.

He later spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and urged her to pressure Israel. A spokesman for Rice confirmed she would go ahead with a visit this week to Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He said: "We're encouraging Israel to exercise caution to avoid the loss of innocent life."