Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama wrote a letter to the American ambassador to the United Nations in which he voiced concern that the U.N. was about to draft an anti-Israeli "presidential statement" on the subject of the "Gaza siege."

Obama asked Ambassador Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad "to make sure that the Security Council does not put out any statement on this matter without fully denouncing the rocket fire carried out by Hamas against civilians in southern Israel over the past two years."

Obama voiced concern for the situation of the "Palestinians," but stressed Israel's right to defend itself.