Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier conferred with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal on Friday in the latest round of telephone diplomacy aimed at halting the fighting in the Gaza strip.

A foreign ministry spokesman in Berlin said Steinmeier discussed with al-Faisal plans by the Arab League to send a mission to UN headquarters in New York to get the Security Council to call a ceasefire.

Both ministers supported efforts to achieve a truce as well as moves that would permit a reopening of border crossings in order to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza, the spokesman said.

Steinmeier also repeated his concern that the fighting endangered progress to date in the Middle East peace process and undermined the stance of those Arabs who were willing to engage with Israel, he added.

The foreign minister conferred by phone on Thursday with his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni to voice "his great concern about the continuation of the fighting," his office said.

But he also said the pre-condition for a truce had to be the cessation of missile attacks against Israel by the radical Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip.

Foreign ministry aides said Steinmeier also spoke with Amr Mussa, secretary general of the Arab League, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit by phone so he could hear about the outcome of Wednesday's Arab League meeting.

More than 400 Palestinians have been killed and 2,000 injured in a week of Israeli air strikes launched to halt rocket attacks by Hamas militants on the Jewish state. (dpa)