Gaza is still an open-air prison, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has said.

The Israeli blockade on building materials has to end and negotiations entered into with Hamas, the West Belfast MP said.

He has held talks in the flashpoint region with Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya and will travel to the West Bank to meet the Palestinian Authority.

”This is a total denial of the rights of the people of Palestine. This is an open-air prison,” he said.

”People can’t travel out of here, they can’t travel in.”

Israel said it launched the offensive because the Islamist group Hamas, which rules Gaza, was firing rockets daily at Israeli towns. The Palestinians say 1,417 residents were killed in the three-week war, mostly civilians. Israel says 1,166 Palestinians were killed, mostly armed fighters.

A number of European legislators and commentators have urged dialogue with Hamas. But Britain and the United States say that cannot happen until the group recognises Israel, renounces violence and accepts interim peace agreements.

Mr Adams compared the modern border crossing from Israel into Gaza to an airport.

”It was distinctly like being back in prison...you had to go through air-locked areas and so on,” he added.

”It is the human problem because when you speak to ordinary decent working people on the Israeli side hit by the rocket attacks...the ordinary people of Israel didn’t cause the problem.”

Mr Adams described a scene of devastation, ruined hospitals, schools and homes and said he urged peace on the Hamas leadership.

”There should be a complete cessation of hostilities by all sides and I stressed our opinion that dialogue is central to what’s required and that is the only way forward,” he added.

”The refusal to recognise the outcome of the ballot box in the Palestinian territories is also bizarre, that they challenge people to go into elections and then when they go into elections they don’t recognise it.”