Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday called for an immediate halt of Israeli offensives in both the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, after meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Abbas made the call at a joint press conference with Rice at al- Muqata'a, security headquarters of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after their two- hour talks.

"The aggressions against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank must be halted immediately and the calmness must be reinforced," Abbas said, adding "the aggression against Lebanon, which is being destructed, also has to stop."

As for the issue of prisoners' swap, Abbas said that the PNA would work with all capacity to secure the release of the captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, but he reminded Israel and the world to consider the suffering of 10,000 Palestinian families which have sons jailed in Israel.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive into the Gaza Strip in the wake of the capture of Israeli soldier Shalit by three Palestinian militant groups on June 25 in a cross-border raid against an Israeli army base southeast of the Gaza-Israel border.

The militant groups conditioned the return of the captive soldier on the release of Palestinian junior and women prisoners jailed in Israel, which was rejected by the Israeli government.

Not long after the seizure of Israeli soldier by the Palestinian militant groups, Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah also captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Lebanon has since been targeted by Israeli military offensive since then.

Source: Xinhua