UNITED NATIONS -- From the U.N. halls to the White House and Arab capitals, diplomats and officials on Tuesday condemned Israel's missile strike on a densely populated Gaza neighborhood that killed a top Hamas commander and 14 others, including nine children.

Even Israel's closest ally, the United States, rejected Israeli claims that it did not know there were civilians in the three-story apartment building where Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh lived. "This is an instance in which the United States and Israel do not agree," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

European officials stressed there was no sympathy for Palestinian terrorists in their criticism of Israel's attack. Israel says the 48-year-old Shehadeh and his Hamas militants were responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis killed in suicide bombings.

The European Union's foreign policy representative, Javier Solana, said there was understanding for Israel's right "to ensure security and to stop acts of terrorism against its citizens.

"But," he added, "this kind of operation is not conducive toward peace and reconciliation."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan did not mention Hamas or terrorism. In a statement issued hours after the missile strike, Annan "deplored the Israeli air attack." Using harsh language, he said Israel had failed its "legal and moral responsibility to take all measures to avoid the innocent loss of life."

Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations, roamed the halls Tuesday, consulting with Arab ambassadors about whether to take the matter to the Security Council.

In Washington, Fleischer said Israel's "heavy-handed action does not contribute to peace. This message will be conveyed to Israeli authorities," he said.

Russia, which cosponsored the Mideast peace process, noted recent progress in trying to bring about a cease-fire and urged "the conflicting parties to show restraint and self-control."

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh called the missile strike "a crime against international law and morally unworthy of a democracy like Israel."

In a statement on behalf of all 15 EU governments, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said "neither this nor any other actions causing indiscriminate civilian casualties will bring security to the Israeli public."

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he understood Israel's "need to take action against suspected suicide bombers and their accomplices." His Norwegian counterpart, Jan Petersen, said the "violent actions" of Palestinian terrorists "are one of the most serious hindrances to peace and must be stopped.

"But we also cannot accept Israeli actions that go beyond accepted international law and contribute to worsening the conflict," he said.

In the Middle East, Palestinian refugees held protest marches, and Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan harshly denounced the missile attack, which destroyed a three-story apartment building, killing Shehadeh and 14 others. More than 100 Palestinians were wounded in the attack.

"We call for severe punishment for these crimes committed against Palestinian people," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.

About 500 Palestinian refugees marched through camps near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, while Jordan's powerful Muslim Brotherhood group urged holy war in response to the Gaza attack.

Israel said it didn't mean to harm civilians when it fired at the building.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer issued a statement saying that "the information which we had was that there were no civilians near him."

But Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher didn't believe it.

"This attack was clearly directed at civilians and people inside their homes, he said. "It (was) a crime by all means."