Britain renews call to end Gaza strikes

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband today renewed Britain’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza, warning of an “unacceptable” loss of innocent lives as Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian enclave entered their third day.

Mr Miliband warned that both sides in the Middle East conflict were going through a “very dangerous and very dark moment” to which the only solution was a comprehensive peace settlement between Israel and the Arab world.

Government buildings in Gaza came under fire for the first time this morning, as air force jets bombed the interior ministry of the Hamas movement, which holds power in the territory.

And there are suspicions that Israel may be poised to launch a ground assault after it approved a call-up of 6,500 reserve soldiers. The country has also doubled the number of troops on the Gaza border in the past two days, and deployed an artillery battery.

Around 300 people are now said to have been killed since bombing of the highly populated territory started on Saturday, with around 1,000 more wounded, including civilians and children.

Israel says it is responding to Hamas-led rocket attacks on the southern part of the country, which have recently surged in numbers since a six-month ceasefire agreement expired last week. At least 110 rockets have been fired from Gaza since yesterday, with one person killed in the town of Netivot, according to official sources.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat this morning called for an immediate end to the Israeli attacks, a return to ceasefire in Gaza, access for humanitarian supplies and the restoration of dialogue between Hamas and Fatah.

Mr Erekat told the BBC: “What Israel is doing deserves the strongest condemnation of the international community.

“At the end of the day you don’t solve such problems with military means and such large-scale attacks.”

But the Israeli deputy ambassador in London, Talya Lador-Fresher, denied the airstrikes were indiscriminate. She told the BBC: “We have been targeting security institutions and we have been targeting Hamas.

“Both the targets and the majority of the casualties were people in uniform, Hamas operatives that were busy trying to launch rockets and doing terror attacks against Israeli citizens.

“We show restraint and even now we target the organisation. They are showing no restraint and are targeting civilians.”