British Prime Minister David Cameron has called on Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, and slammed the current state of the Palestinian enclave as a "prison camp."
"Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp," he said in a speech to a business association during a visit to Turkey, urging Ankara to help seek a solution.
Speaking later after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Cameron added, "We've long supported lifting the blockade of Gaza."
Following international uproar over a deadly Israeli raid on Gaza-bound aid ships on May 31, Israel said it would begin allowing all purely civilian goods into Gaza.
It said it would also allow building materials into the territory, but only for internationally supervised projects and that its naval blockade would remain in place to keep Hamas from importing military-grade rockets and other weapons.
Cameron also called on Turkey to repair ties with Israel, which plunged into a deep crisis after the raid on the aid flotilla left nine Turkish activists dead.
compiled from agency reports