US Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's recent visit to Gaza brought her a deeper understanding of the humanitarian crisis that is impacting the 1.5 million Palestinians in the region.

A group of senior British development agencies, including Christian Aid and CAFOD, have said the humanitarian situation in Gaza is worse now than at any time since 1967 and have denounced Israel's "collective punishment" policy.

As US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice travels to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the wake of the chaos occasioned by Israel's intervention in Gaza, senior US church figures have written calling for urgent action.

Church and aid workers warn that the situation in Gaza is deteriorating as Israelis and Palestinians continue to face off, more than two weeks after Israel cut off the electric power supply after Palestinian missile attacks.

There are fears that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is set to worsen after a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, supported by church and other groups, failed to stop the government from stepping up its blockade of the territory.

Tens of thousands of protestors, including demonstrators in five cities across the UK, joined an international day of action on Saturday 26 January in support of the 1.5 million people blockaded in Gaza by Israeli military action.

Christian Aid and other church groups say that the breach of the border between Gaza and Egypt demonstrates the desperation of a people held hostage to both a policy of collective punishment and an inadequate peace process.

The heads of churches the Holy Land called on the international community and the state of Israel to end the current siege on the Gaza Strip which has caused most recently cuts in electricity and limited the shipments of medicine, fuel, food and other goods across the border.

Christian Aid has added its voice to the growing condemnation of Israel's blockade of Gaza. The breach of the border between Gaza and Egypt demonstrates the desperation of a people held hostage to both a policy of collective punishment and an inadequate peace process, Christian Aid said yesterday.