"The Syrian government condemns the heinous atrocities committed by the enemy Israeli army against the Arab Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," it said in a statement carried by the official news agency SANA.

It urged the international community to "pressure Israel to stop the sinful aggression on our people in the defiant Gaza Strip."

The government's statement came after a wave of Israeli air strikes pounded targets in the Gaza Strip, with top Hamas commander Ahmed Jaabari and two children among those killed.

"Despite the risks of aggression, Syria will always remain faithful to its national and historical duty to the Palestinian people to recover their stolen lands and establish a free Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," it said.

Damascus has long supported the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which rules Gaza, but opposition activists say Hamas militants have joined forces with rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime.