Gaza/Tel Aviv  - After three days of massive airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, Israel was readying Monday to widen its offensive against Hamas by sending in ground forces.

The toll of Operation "Cast Lead" - launched Saturday to curb rocket and mortar attacks from the strip - meanwhile reached at least 345 Palestinian dead and 1,600 injured, Gaza emergency services chief Mu'awia Hassanein said. Two Israelis have also been killed and dozens injured.

Berlin - Germany on Monday defended Israel's military action in Gaza, saying it was taken to protect the country's civilian population from missile attacks by Palestinian militants.

The decision by the radical Hamas movement to end a six-month truce with Israel and continue firing rockets at the Jewish state was to blame for the crisis, government spokesman Thomas Steg said.

"It is the legitimate right of Israel to protect its civilian population and to defend its territory," Steg told a press briefing in Berlin.

Amman - Jordan's King Abdullah II held emergency talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman Saturday and both leaders called for an "immediate cessation" of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, according to a royal court statement.

The two leaders "discussed the situation in Gaza and urged the world community to force Israel to halt its aggression immediately," the statement said.

Oslo/Stockholm  - Norway and Sweden on Saturday joined international calls for an end to the violence in the Gaza Strip and urged both Israel and Hamas to show restraint.

Norwegian State Secretary Raymond Johansen "deplored" that the ceasefire had ended. "One way or another the ceasefire has to be restored," Johansen told Norwegian news agency NTB.

Oslo was in touch with both Palestinian officials and Israel but had not succeeded in extending a ceasefire, and supported the European Union's efforts in the region.

Brussels  - The European Union's top foreign-policy official on Saturday condemned as "unacceptable" the death of Palestinian civilians in Israeli air-strikes and called for an end to violence.

"The current Israeli strikes are inflicting an unacceptable toll on Palestinian civilians and will only worsen the humanitarian crisis as well as complicate the search for a peaceful solution," EU High Representative Javier Solana said in a statement.

Ramallah  - Violent demonstrations broke out in several West Bank areas Saturday afternoon to protest the ongoing Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip.

Those attacks have so far has left more than 200 Palestinians dead and more than 300 wounded.

The demonstrations, which took place in areas where Palestinians come into contact with Israelis, turned into stone throwing and clashes with the Israeli army.

Stone throwing took place at Qalandia checkpoint and Shufat refugee camp, in the Jerusalem area, as well as in Hebron and in Ramallah in the West Bank. The Israeli army used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.