News

British lawyers for 16 Palestinians are seeking to obtain an international arrest warrant for the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, in a London court over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Barak, who was in overall charge of Israeli's offensive in Gaza earlier this year, is due to speak at a meeting at the Labour party conference in Brighton today.

Barak is also due to meet Gordon Brown and David Miliband, the foreign secretary, for talks on the Middle East and Iran.

The legal action relates to alleged war crimes and breaches of the Geneva conventions during the war, which was launched by Israel in response to Palestinian rocket attacks and widely criticised internationally. The death toll is disputed, but the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem found that 1,387 Palestinians died, among them 773 people not taking part in hostilities.