Miliband urges ceasefire in Gaza

David Miliband says a ceasefire is needed urgently

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has renewed his call for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza.

He said "intensive" diplomatic efforts to find a solution were continuing as the crisis affected the "whole world".

His call came as it emerged that Israeli ground troops had entered Gaza after more than a week of violence.

On Saturday thousands took part in global demonstrations against Israeli action. The country's government has said it is protecting its citizens.

The Israeli government has said it is defending its people from Palestinian rocket attacks, but the UK government has repeatedly called for a ceasefire.

Mr Miliband said Israel's ground incursion would cause "alarm and dismay" and said the EU troika was due to visit the region later.

"The prime minister and I remain in very close contact with our EU, US and Middle Eastern colleagues.

We are witnessing a bloody massacre in Gaza and yet the UK government has stood by and simply repeated the usual ritual, ineffective statements of condemnation John McDonnell Labour MP

"We are determined to work as quickly as possible for a durable ceasefire which must include an end to the smuggling of arms into Gaza and the opening of the Gaza crossings.

"The UK believes that the crisis in the Middle East matters to the whole world.

"The only sustainable basis for delivering security and justice for Israelis and Palestinians is the vision of two states living in peace side-by-side, supported by the rest of the region."

Backbench Labour MP, John McDonnell, has demanded Parliament return early from its recess to discuss the escalating situation in Gaza.

Calling for "decisive action", he said: "We are witnessing a bloody massacre in Gaza and yet the UK government has stood by and simply repeated the usual ritual, ineffective statements of condemnation."

Shadow foreign minister David Lidington said the ground invasion was "a serious development that is bound to lead to yet more loss of life".

"The rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli cities are acts of terrorism and must cease if there is to be a chance of restoring peace.

The stand-off near the Israeli embassy

"But only a political agreement and a sustainable ceasefire, possibly backed up by international supervision, will bring about a permanent end to those rocket attacks."

He said Gaza's civilian population was paying "an appalling price in blood, hunger, misery and fear".

In the UK, demonstrators centred their attention on the Israeli embassy in London with up to 5,000 involved in a stand-off with police. Fifteen people were arrested.

The Metropolitan Police said between 10,000 and 12,000 people attended a march in the capital city, but organisers claimed the figure was as high as 75,000.

In London, when the crowds reached Downing Street, about 1,000 shoes were thrown at the gates of echoing the protest of an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush.

The protesters were addressed by former London mayor Ken Livingstone and veteran politician Tony Benn.

Police said a small number of people had made repeated attempts to break through the barriers and threw sticks and other missiles at officers, before pulling apart the barrier line throwing them at the police.

The organisers of the demonstration said they would make an official complaint to Scotland Yard alleging officers charged into protesters as they moved through the Hyde Park underpass towards the embassy.

Protesters threw their shoes outside Downing Street in London

Chris Nineham, from the Stop The War Coalition, claimed police had charged at least three times, wielding batons and injuring some demonstrators.

Scotland Yard said police had made "one 10-metre advance into the crowd to regain control of the protest, using recognised and proportionate tactics".

Elsewhere, some 2,000 protesters joined a rally in Manchester. In Portsmouth, nearly 500 people took to the streets and some 300 marched in Bristol.

Police said there were about 500 demonstrators in Glasgow and 600 in Edinburgh, although organisers said there were more like 2,000 protesters in each city.

The UN says that since the start of the violence a week ago more than 400 people have been killed, about 25% of them civilians - including at least 34 children.

Four Israelis - three civilians and one soldier - have been killed by rockets fired into Israel from Gaza.

Both sides have so far resisted international calls for a ceasefire.

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