Washington  - An audiotape purportedly from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called on Muslims around the world to fight to break Israel's closure of the Gaza Strip.

The message, the second in three days purportedly from the head of the terrorism network, was released Sunday and charged Arab leaders had "sacrificed" Palestinians and countries like Egypt had supported Israel and the West against Islam.

There is no way to "liberate Palestinian territories without violence," said the voice on the tape, which sounded like the voice on other tapes believed to be from bin Laden.

"Even if all the leaders have sacrificed the Palestinian issue in its entirety, we are not relieved of the responsibility," said the tape, released on militant Islamic websites that in the past have posted other tapes from bin Laden. "... Each one of us is responsible for the death of our vulnerable people in Gaza, where scores have died because of the blockade."

Israel and Egypt closed the borders of the Gaza Strip in June after fighting between Hamas and Fatah led to Hamas taking over the territory.

Sunday's tape followed another released Friday, also purportedly by bin Laden on the internet. It called the fight against Israel and its Western allies the most important task of his organization. It condemned the West for celebrating the 60th anniversary of Israel's founding, opposed the existence of Israel and called for the liberation of the Palestinians.

A terrorism-monitoring service run by a US analyst who uses the pseudonym Laura Mansfield said the tape indicated a change of tactic for bin Laden. It noted that in the past, he had focussed on getting the US military out of Saudi Arabia but recently has spotlighted the Palestinian issue.

The second tape was released as US President George W Bush ended a trip to the Mideast. (dpa)