Saudi Arabia on Monday denounced Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, saying it had turned the Palestinian territory into a "mass detention camp".
"Israeli policy avoids negotiating with the Palestinian side and intends to transform the areas the Israeli army withdraws from unilaterally into mass detention camps where Palestinians are blockaded and starved," a cabinet statement said. "By cutting off water, electricity and health supplies Israel adopts a policy of mass punishment," it added.
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks with King Abdullah which Saudi officials said would centre on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.