Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Sunday he would ask French President Nicolas Sarkozy to press Israel to end its nine-day offensive in the Gaza Strip, AFP reported.
The two will meet in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Monday shortly after Sarkozy arrives in the region bidding to end the Israeli offensive against the Hamas-ruled territory that has killed more than 490 Palestinians.
"The Palestinian leadership is responding with all the means to end the Gaza aggression. Tomorrow we will receive the French president and ask him and the European Union to press Israel to end its aggression," Abbas said at the start of a meeting with Palestinian leaders in Ramallah.
The beleaguered Palestinian president, whose forces were ousted from the Gaza Strip by Hamas in June 2007, strongly condemned the "brutal" Israeli operation.