From 'Shock & Awe' to 'Iron & Fire'

Osama bin Laden urged Palestinians on Thursday to use "iron and fire" to end an Israeli blockade of Gaza, in a recording after the Vatican rejected accusations by the al Qaeda chief of a "new crusade".

In an audiotape broadcast by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite channel on Thursday, bin Laden urged Muslims to keep up the struggle against U.S. forces in Iraq as a path to "liberating Palestine". The tape was released around the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"My speech is about the Gaza siege and the way to retrieve it and the rest of Palestine from the hands of the Zionist enemy," the Saudi-born militant said.

"Our enemies did not take it by negotiations and dialogue but with fire and iron. And this is the way to get it back."