UK Urges Israel Give Humanitarian Access To Gaza

Some 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli offensive, which was aimed at stopping Hamas rockets attacks into Israel.

Britain urged Israel on Thursday to give full access for humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip, battered by a 22-day Israeli offensive. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he had written to his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert this week "to urge him to allow full humanitarian access to those seeking to get food and medicines to those who need it."

"I believe that this is as strongly in Israel's interest as it is in the interest of all of us who have been so shocked by the violence and loss of life," Brown told a joint news conference with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Brown's appeal came days after the European Union complained Israel was obstructing the entry of needed goods. The United Nations accused Hamas, the Islamist group which rules Gaza, on Wednesday of seizing aid from one of its Gaza warehouses.

Some 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli offensive, which was aimed at stopping Hamas rockets attacks into Israel. A de facto truce went into effect on Jan. 18. Eleven Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed since the conflict erupted in late December.

Abbas said humanitarian help was coming in to Gaza "although many say that this aid is being stolen." He urged the world to keep sending humanitarian aid. He said $15 billion would be needed to rebuild Gaza.