Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is extremely concerned about the conflict in Gaza and has called on his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to arrive at a truce, Monti's office said Saturday.

In a telephone conversation with Netanyahu, Monti "expressed extreme concern over the continued violence," which began Wednesday when Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jaabari.

He called for "a truce between the parties as soon as possible, to bring to an end the fighting and allow dialogue and peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to begin again."

The targeted attack, Israel's harshest Gaza operation in four years, was followed up by fresh Israeli air strikes, as well as rockets fired from Gaza.

On Friday, Monti had called on Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to play an "active role" in helping Israel and Gaza arrive at a truce.

Morsi, an Islamist whose Muslim Brotherhood movement is close to the Islamist group Hamas which rules Gaza, has blamed Israel for the fighting.

Netanyahu told Monti he was "certain Italy could play a central role in finding a solution to the crisis, particularly thanks to the excellent rapport it has with Eygpt," the statement said.

Israeli strikes on Gaza killed nine Palestinians and destroyed the Hamas government headquarters on Saturday as Israel called up thousands more reservists for a possible ground war.