Islamist Web sites: Bin Laden calls for jihad against Israel over Gaza offensive

       Al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden called for jihad over Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza in a new audio tape that appeared on Islamist websites on Wednesday. "God has bestowed us with the patience to continue the path of jihad for another seven years, and seven and seven years," Bin Laden said in the tape that was dated in the current Islamic month. Bin Laden, whose Al-Qaida was responsible for the the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, has in the past vowed to fight Israel for Palestinian land. The tape was entitled "A call for Jihad to stop the aggression against Gaza." "The question is: Can America continue its war with us for several more decades to come? Reports and evidence would suggest otherwise," he said. The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be verified. The Palestinian death toll from the 19-day-old Israeli offensive against the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza has risen to 971. 13 Israelis have also been killed. The Saudi-born militant said the global financial crisis had exposed the waning influence of the United States in world affairs and would in turn weaken its ally Israel. (22,43)