Desmond Tutu shocked by Gaza conditions

Tutu, who has been on a UN fact-finding mission to investigate the deaths of 19 Palestinian civilians killed in November 2006, said on Thursday the coastal strip had become "desolate and scary".He said Israel should ease the blockade, which has resulted in shortages of fuel and other basic goods.

Israel imposed sanctions last year after Hamas seized control of Gaza. It has tightened the blockade in recent months in response to repeated rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

Rights violation

Tutu told reporters in Gaza the blockade had to be lifted because "it is a gross violation of human rights".On Wednesday, Tutu said he had asked Ismail Haniya, prime minister of Gaza's Hamas government: "Can you stop the firing of rockets into Israel?"

Haniya was dismissed by Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian president, last June when Hamas took control of Gaza from forces loyal to Abbas.

"The incident we are meant to investigate was a violation of human rights in the fact that civilians were targeted," Tutu said.

"We have said to the prime minister [Haniya] that equally, what happens with rockets fired at Sderot is a violation."

Tutu, who was a prominent anti-apartheid activist when South Africa was still under white minority rule, said it was crucial that the two sides negotiate.