Obama stays silent over Tel Aviv's actions

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David Axelrod, senior adviser to the president-elect, said the next president would honour the "important bond" between the United States and Israel.

"He wants to be a constructive force in helping to bring about the peace and security that both the Israelis and the Palestinians want and deserve," the spokesman added. However, Mr Obama's lack of condemnation of TelAviv's actions risked alienating Muslims, Washington analysts warned today.

Many people within the Muslim world were looking to him to offer a fresh view on the Middle East and the cycle of violence. But three days after the Israeli assault began, senior aides said Mr Obama was leaving all comments to George Bush.

Mr Axelrod said there was "only one president at a time" and that Mr Obama did not want to send out mixed signals. Mr Obama had planned to deliver a major speech from an Islamic country within the first 100 days of his administration.

He had previously said that mediating in the conflict from "day one" of his administration was his main target. But with the death toll now rising above 300, and a ground invasion by Israeli troops increasingly likely, that aim appears all but lost.

Aaron David Miller, a veteran US peace negotiator, said the fighting made "a difficult situation even tougher" and reduced the likelihood that Mr Obama could create an impact.

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli official dismissed any suggestion that Israel had acted now because it believed a window of opportunity was closing with President Bush leaving office and Mr Obama preparing to enter the White House, highlighting instead Israeli parliamentary elections on 10February. "It wasn't politically sustainable for leaders in Israel to idly stand by and let Hamas continue shooting," the official said.