Europe ups pressure on Israel to stop Gaza war

European countries ramped up pressure on Israel to abandon its intensified campaign in Gaza and let more aid into the war-ravaged territory, where rescuers said fresh attacks killed dozens of people on Tuesday.

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A journalist saw five trucks entering the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza from the Israeli side on Tuesday, a day after the UN said it had been cleared to send aid for the first time since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2, sparking severe shortages of food and medicine.

The dire humanitarian situation in the Strip has prompted an international outcry, with Sweden saying it would press the European Union to level sanctions against Israeli ministers.

"Since we do not see a clear improvement for the civilians in Gaza, we need to raise the tone further," Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel, summoned the Israeli ambassador and said it was imposing sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank in its toughest actions so far against Israel's conduct of the war.

"The world is judging, history will judge them," Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in an impassioned speech to parliament.

"Blocking aid, expanding the war, dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible and it must stop."