Beirut - Anti-Syrian Lebanese Druze MP Walid Jumblatt on Tuesday criticized Hezbollah's verbal attacks on Egypt and other Arab states over the present situation in the Gaza Strip.

Jumblatt called for a focus on uniting Palestinian factions to confront Israeli aggression in Gaza. He also urged the international community and the United Nations Security Council to "exert pressure on Israel to halt its barbaric aggression on Gaza."

The ongoing violence in Gaza, he added, would only result in "more terror."

Jumblatt ruled out the possibility of "escalation from Lebanon" in relation to the Gaza confrontation. "What would such escalation from liberated south Lebanon produce at a time the Syria regime makes no moves although Israel occupies its lands? They negotiate with Israel, instead," Jumblatt said.

In a televised address on Sunday, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah called on Egyptians to take to the streets "in millions" to force the government to open the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip.

The radical Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has close links with the radical Islamic Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Nasrallah's remarks prompted Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit to accuse the radical Shiite Hezbollah movement of "declaring war on the Egyptian people."

Rifaat al-Saeed, the chairman of the Egyptian coalition party, meanwhile, said Nasrallah's speech came from his movement's Iranian patrons. "Egyptians do not need Nasrallah's permission to demonstrate," he said.

Jihad Awdeh of the ruling Egyptian National Democratic Party also criticized Nasrallah's speech as a "big mistake." "The person who talked to us is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad whom Nasrallah works for," he said.

Lebanese security forces have sealed off all roads leading to the Egyptian embassy in Beirut. (dpa)