Israel last night announced a ceasefire from 10am to 5pm local time today to allow humanitarian aid to be brought in

UN Secretary-General: Strike is 'moral outrage and criminal act' and 'yet another gross violation of humanitarian law'

It says a third of all hospitals in Gaza have been damaged and 270,000 people are crammed into 90 UN shelters

United Nations warns medical facilities are 'on the verge of collapse' as almost half of medics are unable to get to work


Gaza's morgues are overflowing to such an extent that medics are being forced to pack babies' bodies into ice cream freezers, shocking pictures have revealed.



The United Nations has warned that Gaza's medical facilities are 'on the verge of collapse' with buildings left in ruins and half of medics unable to get to work.



Palestinians say corpses now litter the streets and casualties fill the blood-stained emergency room floors of Gaza's hospitals, a third of which have been damaged in the fighting.

Some children's bodies from the al-Ghol family, which lost nine members, were crammed into a freezer because there was no room for them in the morgue of Rafah.

Israel announced another seven-hour humanitarian truce starting at 10am local time (8am BST) this morning, but Palestinians immediately accused Israel of breaking the ceasefire by bombing a house in Gaza City.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said 15 people were wounded in the strike on a house in Shati camp, mostly women and children.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking the report.



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WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

No more room: Babies' bodies have been crammed into an ice cream freezer in Rafah's morgue, which ran out of room for bodies amid an infrastructure crisis

Some children's bodies from the al-Ghol family, which lost nine members were crammed into a freezer because there was no room for them in the morgue of Rafah

The family's bodies were lined up in the back of a cooler truck at first because the hospital's morgue was full in Rafah, a town in Gaza which has been hit relentlessly

Rescue: A wounded boy cries under the rubble of the house in Rafah which was destroyed in a reported airstrike yesterday, killing at least nine members of the same family. The UN says access is effectively blocked to many of its facilities, one of which was hit by a strike yesterday, as almost half of Gaza's medics cannot get to work

Help: The boy was evacuated from under the rubble on a fresh day of attacks which saw the sixth Israeli attack on a UN facility since the start of the crisis on July 8

Lifeless: A paramedic wails as he carries the body of a baby after an Israeli air strike hit the Al Ghoul family building in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip

Medical care: a boy sits on the blood-stained floor the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya after he was wounded in an Israeli strike. The UN has warned Gaza's medical facilities are 'on the verge of collapse' after a third of its hospitals, 14 clinics and 29 ambulances were damaged, with two-fifths of medics unable to get to work

Crowded: Dr. Ambrogio Manenti, acting Head of Office of the UN World Health Organization, said: 'The ability to provide necessary healthcare is being severely compromised. This puts the lives of thousands of Palestinians in needless danger'. Pictured are victims of a strike in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya

The state of Gaza's medical facilities has been the subject of several warnings by the UN and non-profit campaigns such as human rights group Amnesty International

Two-fifths of Gaza's medics are now unable to get to work because of the violence and treatment is thrown into chaos by anonymous false alarms of impending attacks. Many of those in shelters are reliant on bottled water as the total amount of British aid pledged to the crisis reaches £13million.

Sanitation facilities are badly damaged and Gaza City only receives two hours of electricity per day, the UN added. Some areas have no electricity at all and one shelter in Jabalia is holding 10,000 people.

Dr. Ambrogio Manenti, acting Head of Office of the UN World Health Organization, said: 'The ability to provide necessary healthcare is being severely compromised. This puts the lives of thousands of Palestinians in needless danger'.

Robert Turner, Director of Operations in the Gaza Strip for the UN Relief and Works Agency, said: 'Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in terrible conditions, pushing UNRWA's coping capacity to the edge.'



Killed in action: Israeli Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, whose death was confirmed yesterday. Right shows an honour guard carrying his coffin at his funeral in Kfar-Saba, Israel. It was thought that Lt Goldin had been taken captive by Hamas, a belief which prompted Israel to break a 72-hour ceasefire agreement after just 72 minutes



Paying respects: Israelis crowd the streets of Kfar-saba as Lt. Goldin is carried through the town to the cemetery

Mourning: Friends and relatives of Lt Goldin crowd around his flower-bedecked coffin during his funeral yesterday

Solemn moment: The honour guard stands near Lt Goldin's graveside as an IDF rabbi conducts the funeral service beneath a gazebo erected in the Kfar-saba cemetery

Sad day: Sun streams through the trees of the verdant graveyard as mourners sit quietly on a wall behind the main funeral group to pay their respects

Difficult time: Two of Lt Goldin's comrades embrace as another looks impassively down at the coffin of his friend before he is laid to rest

Mourners sob during the service: Tensions exploded on Friday after Israel declared the 23-year-old had been kidnapped, shattering a 72-hour ceasefire in 72 minutes

The honour guard fires a salute: But a spokesman for the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) yesterday said he was killed when Hamas soldiers attacked his unit

A man stands draped in an Israeli flag: A military panel reached the conclusion that he must have died based on evidence at the scene of the attack, the IDF said

Israel now says it is scaling down parts of its operation. It withdrew tanks over the weekend ahead of today's ceasefire and said it is 'reassessing' its armaments along the border.

'We have indeed scaled down some of the presence and indeed urged Palestinians in certain neighborhoods to come back to their homes,' said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman.



In Rafah, which has seen some of the fiercest assaults, the leader of the Fatah political faction Ashraf Goma said Israeli forces were bombarding the town from air, ground and sea and locals were unable to deal with the wounded and the dead.

'Bodies of the wounded are bleeding in the streets and other corpses are laid on the road with no one able to recover them,' he said.

'I saw a man on a donkey cart bringing seven bodies into the hospital. Bodies are being kept in ice-cream refrigerators, in flower and vegetable coolers.'

Deaths: A man carries a dead girl from the UN school in Rafah, which was hit by an airstrike yesterday as the number of people in 90 UN-run shelters neared 270,000 Bloodstained: The gates of the UN school in Rafah. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said last night: 'The attack is yet another gross violation of international humanitarian law. United Nations shelters must be safe zones not combat zones. The Israel Defence Forces have been repeatedly informed of the location of these sites' Breaking point: A third of all of Gaza's hospitals have been damaged according to the UN. Pictured, a victim is treated on the floor of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya Unhygienic: Parts of the Gaza Strip have no electricity at all, says the UN, with poor sanitation and many hospitals have been damaged in Israeli air strikes Children: A Palestinian baby girl who was lightly wounded in an Israeli strike on a house in Beit Lahiya is being treated at the emergency room of Kamal Adwan hospital Dr Ambrogio Manenti, acting Head of Office of the WHO, said: 'The ability to provide healthcare is being severely compromised. This puts thousands of lives in danger'

UN officials said an air-launched missile hit the gates of its school in Rafah, where 3,000 Palestinians were sheltering from a fresh wave of strikes, killing 10 people and injuring 35 inside and outside the compound at 10.50am local time.

Bodies lay on the ground in chaotic scenes as injured children and adults were rushed through the blood-spattered streets in the arms of residents.

The Associated Press news agency said many of those hit were waiting for food supplies outside. Israel's military did not immediately comment.

Robert Serry, UN Middle East Special Coordinator, said: 'It is simply intolerable that another school has come under fire while designated to provide shelter for civilians fleeing the hostilities'.

Israel's government insists Gaza's dominant Hamas faction bears ultimate responsibility for civilian casualties, accusing militants of hiding rockets deliberately in civilian areas, shelters and mosques, using residents in densely populated areas as 'human shields'.



Bloodshed: Palestinians aid people injured this morning in another Israeli attack, reportedly on a UN school in Rafah, southern Gaza, where 3,000 people were sheltering. Reuters reported the attack was on the entrance of the school itself, while the Associated Press wrote that it hit people who were queuing for food handouts nearby

With blood on his sandals and on the ground, a Palestinian man runs with an injured child after the Israeli military strike on a UN school in Rafah this morning

Blood lay on the ground and women cried outside the UN school in Rafah after what was reportedly the second attack on a school in less than a week

Blood-spattered: People carry a wounded man following a reported Israeli air strike at the gates of a United Nations-run school sheltering 3,000 Palestinians

Anguish: Palestinians react as wounded and dead people lie on the ground following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike at a UN-run school in Rafah

It is at least the sixth UN facility to be hit in Gaza and comes just four days after at least 15 Palestinians who sought refuge in a UN school in the Jabalya refugee camp were killed during fighting, with the UN saying it appeared Israeli artillery had hit the building.



Robert Turner, the director of operations for the UN Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza, said preliminary findings indicated the blast was the result of an Israeli airstrike near the school, which had been providing shelter for some 3,000 people.

This attack, along with other breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated and those responsible held accountable. It is a moral outrage and a criminal act

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said tonight: 'The attack is yet another gross violation of international humanitarian law, which clearly requires protection by both parties of Palestinian civilians, UN staff and UN premises, among other civilian facilities.

'United Nations shelters must be safe zones not combat zones. The Israel Defence Forces have been repeatedly informed of the location of these sites.



'This attack, along with other breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated and those responsible held accountable. It is a moral outrage and a criminal act.



'The Secretary-General is profoundly dismayed over the appalling escalation of violence and loss of hundreds of Palestinian civilian lives since the breach of the humanitarian ceasefire on August 1.

'The resurgence in fighting has only exacerbated the man-made humanitarian and health crisis wreaking havoc in Gaza. Restoring calm can be achieved through resumption of the ceasefire and negotiations by the parties in Cairo to address the underlying issues.



'The Secretary-General repeats his demand to the parties to immediately end the fighting and return to the path of peace. This madness must stop.'



In a chaotic scene inside the compound of the U.N. school, several bodies, among them children, were strewn across the ground in puddles of blood. Bloody footprints stained the ground where people had rushed the wounded into ambulances.

'Our trust and our fate is only in the hands of God!' one woman cried.

Some of the wounded, among them children with bloody head bandages, were transported to the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah and others were treated in what seemed to be a makeshift clinic underneath a tent.

Some 3,000 people were sheltering from Israeli strikes inside the school, said the UN's director of operations for the Palestinian refugee agency Robert Turner

Hurt: A Palestinian man runs in the street with an injured child after the reported Israeli military strike on a UN school in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip

Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, said: 'It is believed that there was an air strike that hit outside the gate of an UNRWA school, a designated shelter for at least 3,000 displaced residents. There were multiple dead and injuries inside and outside the school, including an UNRWA staffer'

DEATH TOLL: RECENT ATTACKS BY ISRAEL ON UN SCHOOLS IN GAZA AUGUST 3: At least 10 killed at school in Rafah JULY 30: At least 15 killed at school in Jabalya refugee camp, including sleeping children JULY 24: At least 15 killed and 200 injured at school in Beit Hanoun Advertisement

Several bodies, wrapped in white cloth, were lined up on the floor.

At least six U.N. facilities, including schools sheltering the displaced, have been struck by Israeli fire since the conflict began, drawing international condemnation.

In each case Israel has said it was responding to militants launching rockets or other attacks from nearby.

The sun rose today over another day of violence in Gaza as at least 30 people - nine from the same family in Rafah - were killed in Israeli shelling despite reports the military's mission was coming to an end.

Israeli tanks were seen leaving the densely-packed, rubble-strewn Gaza Strip before the strikes on the 27th day of the conflict, as security sources said they had destroyed the vast majority of militants' tunnels.

But few had seen much hope of peace as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Hamas would pay an 'intolerable price' for any further rocket attacks.

Artillery shells slammed into two high-rise office buildings in central Gaza City and the town of Rafah came under heavy fire.

Mass death: The bodies of the family were lined up at a morgue in Rafah where the attacks continued this morning, including at the gates of a UN school

Tears: A woman cried as she carried a baby from the family during funeral rites in Rafah today. More than 20 other people in the same building were injured

Death: Palestinians carry the body of a girl who was found this morning under the rubble of a house where at least nine members of the al-Ghol family died in Rafah

Wounded: A boy is evacuated from the rubble of the house. At least 40 people were inside the home at the time when it was reportedly hit by Israeli jet fighters

Injuries: This boy was injured in shelling on a house in the Gaza Strip this morning as a renewed assault killed at least 30 Palestinians, many of them civilians

EGYPT A MEDIATOR IN GAZA CONFLICT AS ISRAEL REFUSES TO ATTEND PEACE NEGOTIATIONS A delegation from Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad arrived in Cairo today for ceasefire talks, Egyptian sources said. Truce talks would include Hamas' demand that Egypt ease movement across its border with blockaded Gaza. But Israel said yesterday it would not send envoys as scheduled - accusing enemy Palestinian Islamists of misleading international mediators. Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and like Israel opposes Hamas, has positioned itself as a mediator for the Gaza conflict. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was in Cairo today, said a peace proposal should include an immediate ceasefire, ending the blockade and the release of prisoners. Advertisement

Even though IDF forces were seen withdrawing from parts of Gaza yesterday and this morning amid reports the Hamas tunnel network had been mostly destroyed, Netanyahu emphasised Israel was determined not to back down.

He said: 'The military will prepare for continuing action in according to our security needs. We promised to return the quiet to Israel and that is what we will do.

'We will continue to act until that goal is reached, however long it will take and with as much force needed. Hamas needs to understand that it will pay an intolerable price as far as it is concerned for continuing to fire.'

The death toll stands at more than 1,700 Palestinians and 67 Israelis, including 64 soldiers, as it emerged that a 23-year-old Israeli soldier who had been feared kidnapped by Hamas - shattering a 72-hour ceasefire - was killed in action instead.

Tensions had been heightened on Friday after Israel declared 23-year-old Hadar Goldin had been kidnapped by Hamas, shattering a 72-hour ceasefire in less than 72 minutes.

But in the early hours today a spokesman for the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said he was killed when Hamas soldiers attacked his unit - contrary to the previous assertions that he could have been captured.

A military panel reached the conclusion that he must have died based on evidence at the scene of the attack, the IDF said.

Rescue workers search for victims after this home in Rafah was destroyed in an Israeli air strike that reportedly killed at least nine members of the al-Ghol family

Apocalyptic: The sun rose today on another day of bloodshed in Gaza as dozens of Palestinians were killed in dawn shelling with little sign of a truce. Pictured: Beit Lahia

Another family killed: Rescue workers search for victims where at least five members from the al-Khattab family died in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip today

Rubble: Large parts of Gaza, the most densely-populated zone in the world, are reduced to rubble as the UN warns of an impending health catastrophe

Across the territory men clustered round hastily-constructed graves dug into the sand as the sun beat down as bloodied bodies piled up in makeshift morgues

Smoke: The aftermath of a reported Israeli air strike today in Rafah, which has been pummeled by the military for days in the escalating Gaza conflict

Mourning: Relatives of the family which lost at least nine of its members in a strike on a house in Rafah earlier today. Dozens were killed in the fresh wave of violence

Hunched: An elderly woman carrying a bucket walks past bombed-out buildings in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. There were some signs the offensive was scaling back

Ruins: A Palestinian man walks through a burned-out building in the wake of air strikes and shelling in Khuzaa, east of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip

Strikes: Smoke rises from the Al Zafer tower apartment in Gaza City, which was damaged by an Israeli strike this morning as the conflict entered its 27th day

Blood red sky: Birds flew over Gaza City this morning as the sun rose on another day of bloodshed, with 30 people killed in Gaza by renewed Israeli shelling early today A Palestinian man salvages gas canisters from the ruins of buildings destroyed by what police said were Israeli air strikes and shelling in Khuzaa, east of Khan Younis

The ability to provide necessary healthcare is being severely compromised. This puts the lives of thousands of Palestinians in needless danger

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon revealed today he is a distant relative of Goldin and had known him his whole life.

The information was previously kept under wraps while Goldin was feared to be abducted.



The confirmation of Lieutenant Goldin's death came as Gaza lay in ruins, with Palestinians ravaged by the conflict burying yet more of their dead, amid reports of Israeli forces withdrawing after achieving their objectives.

Across the territory men clustered round hastily-constructed graves dug into the sand as the sun beat down - while not far away bloodied bodies were piled high in a walk-in vegetable fridge for emergency storage.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he had received thousands of emails from the British public expressing horror at the scenes in Gaza as protests raged outside Parliament and the Israeli embassy in Kensington, west London.

The Foreign Secretary, who only began his role three weeks ago, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'It's a broad swathe of British public opinion that feels deeply, deeply disturbed by what it is seeing on its television screens, coming out of Gaza.



'The British public has a strong sense that the situation in Gaza is simply intolerable and must be addressed - and we agree with them.

'There must be a humanitarian ceasefire that is without conditions. We have to get the killing to stop.'

Tension: In the early hours today the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) revealed Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, 23 - whose supposed kidnap by Hamas caused a ceasefire to break down - in fact died in the line of duty. Pictured are Members of Lieutenant Goldin's family, including his brother Zur, right, outside their home in Kfar Saba

Mourning: Lieutenant Goldin's sister, Ayelet, left, and his fiancée Edna, right, are seen with tears in their eyes after the announcement was made

Family: Lea Goldin, Lieutenant Goldin's mother, is comforted by Haimi, the soldier's brother, as the family address reporters outside their home

A row broke out between Ed Miliband and Downing Street after the Labour leader accused the Prime Minister of getting it 'wrong' on Gaza.

He condemned Israel's military offensive as 'wrong and unjustifiable', and attacked the Government's apparent silence, prompting accusations by Downing Street that he was 'playing politics' and misrepresenting David Cameron's position.

This endless bloodshed must now stop, for the sake of the people of Gaza, for the sake of the people of Israel

Mr Miliband said that the Prime Minister was 'right to say that Hamas is an appalling terrorist organisation' whose 'wholly unjustified' rocket attacks and construction of tunnels for terrorist purposes had shown its murderous intent towards Israel.

But the Labour leader added: 'The Prime Minister is wrong not to have opposed Israel's incursion into Gaza.

'His silence on the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians caused by Israel's military action will be inexplicable to people across Britain and internationally.'

A Downing Street spokesman said in response: 'The PM has been clear that both sides in the Gaza conflict need to observe a ceasefire.

'We are shocked that Ed Miliband would seek to misrepresent that position and play politics with such a serious issue.'



Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said today: 'This endless bloodshed must now stop, for the sake of the people of Gaza, for the sake of the people of Israel. Violence will only beget more violence, extremism will only beget more extremism.

'It is so important not only to stop this terrible humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza itself, with hundreds upon hundreds of innocent civilians being killed, but also for the long-term security of innocent Israeli civilians who have been subject to these unacceptable rocket attacks.



'It is essential for everybody on all sides of this conflict that this outburst of military violence must now cease.'



Thumbs up: Israeli soldier celebrated from their tanks as many ground troops pulled out of Gaza today - but attacks continued, including on a UN school

An Israeli soldier kisses his Merkava tank along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip after he, along with many other soldiers, pulled out of ground assaults

Dawn on another day of war: An Israeli soldier stretches early this morning near the border with Gaza as it emerged another 30 Palestinians had been killed by shelling

Morning: An Israeli tank returns to base just outside Gaza this morning. There were hopes the operation was winding down, but another 30 people were killed

Convoy: Israel's tanks began withdrawing from the Gaza Strip after military tunnels were destroyed, but there was no clear end in sight to the bloodshed in the region

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: 'It's a broad swathe of British public opinion that feels deeply, deeply disturbed by what it is seeing on television screens'

Praying: An Israeli soldier prays this morning near the border with Gaza as it appeared the military incursion would be scaled back - but air strikes continued

Tanks and troops were filmed rolling out of the Gaza strip yesterday and this morning, while Israeli military sources said their mission to destroy a network of tunnels into Israel built by Hamas was mostly complete.

The conflict has claimed more than 1,700 Palestinian lives - including 300 children - since in began on July 8, and has also cost the lives of more than 60 Israeli soldiers, and three civilians killed by an unrelenting stream of rockets fired into Israel.

Britain is providing a further £3million for aid workers in Gaza, where there is what International Development Secretary Justine Greening described as 'nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe'.

The activation of Britain's Rapid Response Facility brings the total amount of British aid given in the current crisis to £13million.

Priority is being given to projects to provide clean water and sanitation following extreme water shortages, as well as emergency healthcare, clearance of unexploded bombs and counselling and care for civilians, particularly women and children.

The Department for International Development said that since the Israeli offensive began on July 8, 136 schools - some serving as shelters - 24 hospitals and clinics and 25 ambulances have been damaged or destroyed.

Distressing: This image circulating heavily on social media showed a newborn baby - with hospital tags still attached - wounded by shrapnel. Gazan photographer Samar Abu Alouf told New York Magazine it was taken on Monday and the baby's name was Shaima, after her mother. A baby with that name reportedly died two days later

Bloodied: A medic stands among bodies yesterday which were placed hastily in a walk-in vegetable fridge in Rafah, Gaza. Other images were too graphic to publish in full

Horror: A Palestinian relative stands in the fridge among the mass of bodies, which were bound up in blood-stained white sheets after Israeli strikes

Eight UN aid workers and at least two Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers have now been reported as killed.

Two-fifths of the sixth-most densely populated area on Earth is now a war zone, with a quarter of the Gazan population displaced.

Yesterday Israel unleashed a fresh wave of air strikes which completely destroyed Gaza City's Imam Al Shafaey mosque and damaged the historic al-Omeri mosque in the nearby city of Jabalia.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed in bombardment and shelling in and around Rafah, where Lieutenant Goldin had gone missing.

Elsewhere in Gaza, Palestinian officials reported more than 150 airstrikes including several against mosques and one against the Hamas-linked Islamic University in Gaza City.

The Israeli military insisted it had attacked five mosques because they were concealing weapons and the Islamic University was being used as a research and weapons manufacturing site for Hamas.

Senior Israeli politicians said they would not attend proposed truce talks because Hamas had ignored so many ceasefires that there is 'no point' negotiating.

But international pressure continued to mount as protest groups and politicians the world over pushed for a solution and an end to the killing. The European Union today urged an end to the 'bloodshed' in Gaza and called for negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The leaders of the 28-nation bloc's executive branch, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and Council president Herman Van Rompuy, said today that the EU stands ready to support negotiations and reconstruction.

'The bloodshed needs to stop,' they said, because previous cycles of violence between Hamas and Israel have shown 'limits regarding what military operations can achieve'. The only real way forward was a negotiated solution, they said.



Protests: Activists turned out to a pro-Palestinian rally today in Sydney, Australia, holding bloodied dolls and calling for an end to Israel's military action

The protesters in Sydney held banners which declared 'Zionism = Apartheid' and featured heavily the red, green, white and black colours of the Palestinian flag

Pressure: A protester in Sydney. International condemnation has grown as Britain's Foreign Secretary called for an immediate end to the bloodshed with no conditions

Counter-rally: Elsewhere in Sydney, at the Dudley Page Reserve, thousands of pro-Israeli protesters gathered today calling on the world to stand by the offensive

The supporters of Israel gathered to condemn rocket attacks by Hamas, hundreds of which have been intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system

Entrenched: Both sides show no sign of backing down in the current conflict as Israel's Prime Minister vows swift and 'intolerable' action after every attack by Hamas

Protesters around the world voiced their fury at the rising toll, with demonstrations in France, Germany and Arab parts of Israel seizing on the motif of dead children, holding up red-spattered dolls, or stained shrouds, to drive home their point.

It came as the UN confirmed that at least 296 Palestinian children have been killed since the offensive began on July 8.

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, said it only included deaths it could definitely verify in the total, which is around a third of its total reported casualties.

They broke the total down to 187 boys and 109 girls, 203 of whom were under 12.

When governments sell weapons into war zones they cannot absolve themselves of responsibility for what happens when they are used

Yesterday new data showed that £42million of 'military list' equipment exports to Israel were approved by the British Government since 2010, with £10million in the last 12 months.

Andrew Smith, of the Campaign Against Arms Trade, told the Independent: 'There must be an immediate embargo on all arms sales and military collaboration with Israel. When governments sell weapons into war zones they cannot absolve themselves of responsibility for what happens when they are used.'

A government spokesman said: 'We are currently reviewing all existing export licences to Israel. All applications for export licences are assessed on a case by case basis against strict criteria.

'We will not issue a licence if there is a clear risk that the equipment might be used for internal repression, or if there is a clear risk that it would provoke or prolong conflict.'

The U.S. Congress, meanwhile, voted almost unanimously to pledge another $225million to restocking Israel's Iron Dome rocket defence system.

One of the most advanced missile defence systems in the world, the Iron Dome has been credited by Israel's authorities with shooting down dozens of Hamas rockets.

Just eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted against providing the funding while 395 voted in favour.

On Thursday, a group that advises Britain's 260,000 Jews on security matters said anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had risen to a near-record level since the start of the Israeli offensive.

The current conflict, among the most lethal in recent decades, began after three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and found dead in the West Bank. Israel accused Hamas of the kidnapping, which Hamas denied.