'Israel was willing to sacrifice aid workers': calls to ban arms sales grow amid outrage

ISRAEL was accused today of being prepared to "sacrifice" seven innocent charity workers in its Gaza military onslaught as the UK Government came under growing pressure to ban arms sales to the key ally.

- Nicholas Cecil and Martin Bentham

Amid world outrage about the deadly air strike, Poland's foreign minister criticized Israel's explanation that it was a "grave mistake" due to "misidentification". Radoslaw Sikorski told BBC radio: "The Israeli chief of staff says this was a case of mistaken identity and that they thought there was a terrorist amongst them.

But even if there was, they seem to have been willing to sacrifice seven innocent people for someone who was not an immediate danger. These are moral hazards that I do not think are acceptable." No Hamas terrorist was in the aid convoy, according to all the evidence so far.

In Britain, where the Government was being urged to stop arms sales, former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger branded some actions by Israel as "bordering on the reckless" despite its claims to carry out precision strikes.

He added that it was "hard not to conclude that insufficient care is being paid" to the risks of aid workers, or civilians, being killed by Israeli forces seeking to destroy the Hamas terror group.