Bush 'deeply troubled' by Israeli strike

US President George Bush said he was “deeply troubled” by Israel’s helicopter attack on a senior Hamas leader that killed a bystander and a bodyguard in Gaza City today.

Such a strike “does not contribute to the security of Israel,” he said through his official spokesman.

The attack came less than a week after Bush launched the road map to Middle East peace he helped craft at a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

“The president is deeply troubled by the strike of helicopter gunships that reportedly killed at least two persons and wounded 20 others,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in Washington.

“The president is concerned that this strike will undermine efforts by Palestinian authorities to bring an end to terrorist attacks, and it does not contribute to the security of Israel.”

Bush said after the summit in Aqaba, Jordan last week that he would seek to keep the parties on the path to peace if he saw them straying.

The statement read by Fleischer seemed to be in keeping with that.

“What is important in this new environment is for Palestinians and Israelis to find ways to work together on the path to peace,” Fleischer said.

“This is going to require both the Palestinian Authority and Israel to find new ways to protect the road map so it can advance, to face terrorism.”