The European Union's top aid official has accused Israel of deliberately blocking humanitarian help for the Palestinians in the West Bank.

The official, Poul Nilesen, said Israeli soldiers had fired at aid workers and threatened them at gunpoint in what he called an attempt to prevent them providing help to wounded Palestinians.

Mr Nielsen described Israel's behaviour as totally unacceptable; he said aid workers now faced more danger working in the West Bank than in Chechnya.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service