The British government condemned the massive military operation by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip andthose "appalling destruction of Palestinian homes" in Rafah, a leading member of the British parliament said on Thursday.

"This sort of action is actually escalating the conflict ratherthan producing circumstances in which negotiated settlement couldoccur," Peter Hain, the leader of the House of Commons, told the parliament.

"The tit-for-tat violence and killing has to stop on both sidesand Israelis are just as entitled to be free from suicide attacks," Hain said.

Hain's comments followed the remarks made by Rawhi Fattouh, visiting speaker of the Palestinian parliament, in which he described Israel's incursion into the Rafah refugee camp as a "crime against humanity" and slammed the United States for not reacting strongly enough to the Israeli action in Gaza.

"What happened in Rafah ... is a direct indication of the kind of Israeli response to peace proposals... Rafah is besieged completely, there is a real true crime against humanity going on there now, there is an annihilation process going on there now. Itis the most catastrophe-stricken city in the world today," Rawhi Fattouh told a news conference in London.

"What was happening in Gaza was deliberate state terrorism. I would have hoped he (US President George W. Bush) would have condemned it as he condemned suicide bombings," Fattouh told reporters through an interpreter.

Earlier reports said another seven Palestinians were killed on Thursday as Israeli troops continued its raid into Rafah.

At least 10 Palestinians, many of them children, were killed onWednesday as Israeli troops fired on demonstrators who were protesting against the so-called Operation Rainbow by Israeli forces.

Source: Xinhua