Hammond: West 'Losing Sympathy For Israel'

The British Foreign Secretary has told Sky News he will tell Israel's prime minister the West is becoming less sympathetic to its cause.

Philip Hammond is visiting Israel as international efforts to broker a ceasefire continue.

At a joint news conference with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday morning, he said Britain was "gravely concerned" by the heavy number of casualties in Gaza.

"We want to see a ceasefire quickly agreed," he said.

Mr Hammond at a news conference with Mr Netanyahu in Jerusalem, earlier

Israel has said it will continue hunting Palestinian cross-border tunnels under any humanitarian truce.

Israeli cabinet minister Yaakov Peri told the Walla news website: "I can say authoritatively that two or three days will not be enough to finish tackling the tunnels."

Hamas has meanwhile rejected any truce without the lifting of Israel's eight-year blockade of Gaza.

"We will not accept any initiative that does not lift the blockade on our people and that does not respect their sacrifices," said Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.

Earlier, Mr Hammond warned an international inquiry into Israel's actions in Gaza will not help efforts to achieve a ceasefire.

Philip Hammond during his meeting with Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah

The UN Human Rights Council has voted to back a Palestinian resolution to begin an investigation, as Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said there was a "strong possibility" Israel was guilty of war crimes.

Ms Pillay also condemned the indiscriminate firing of rockets and mortars by the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza, into Israel.

But Mr Hammond said the resolution was "fundamentally unbalanced" and would "complicate the process by introducing unnecessary new mechanisms".

Mr Hammond, who held late night talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, said a ceasefire "is not enough", and added he would push for a "stable solution" that allows Palestinians and Israelis to "live in peace together".

Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza on July 17 after more than a week of strikes aimed at stopping rocket fire into the country.

Smoke rises from a building in Gaza City

Some 715 Palestinians have now died - 165 of these children, according to Palestinian medics.

The number of Israeli casualties now stands at 34.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is also in the region as international efforts continue to end the conflict.

Mr Kerry said after meeting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that "some steps forward" have been made, but added "there is still work to be done".

The continued fighting has caused flights into Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport to be affected after a rocket struck close to the runways on Tuesday.

EasyJet has extended the suspension of its services into Thursday, confirming it would not operate flights from Luton, Gatwick, Basel, Berlin Schoenefeld, Geneva, Manchester and Milan Malpensa.

The European safety regulator EASA also strongly recommended European airlines against flying there "until further notice".

A ban on US airlines flying to Tel Aviv has however been lifted by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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