Hamas terrorists praise Ed Miliband over sanctions on Israel but tell Labour 'they're not enough'

Basem Naim, a senior figure in Hamas's political bureau, said: "The imposition of sanctions by Britain and other European countries and Canada on goods imported from the settlements of the occupied West Bank, and the London foreign minister's use of the term 'ethnic cleansing' to describe the crimes of the settlers, are important steps in the right direction but they are not enough."

Mr Naim also demanded "the prosecution of war criminals in Israel in a manner similar to the Nazi trials at Nuremberg in Germany".

Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Miliband declared the occupation of Palestinian territory "unlawful" and accused Israel of undermining the viability of a two-state solution.

He told MPs: "The British Government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists.

"And all too often, the Israeli Government has turned a blind eye to this."

The Foreign Secretary, who stated he remained a proud Jew as he unveiled the measures, announced that Britain would target companies and individuals providing financial, infrastructure, property or construction support to the settlements.

The UK will also block all weapons export licences for arms deemed to "materially contribute to the occupation".

Israel responded by denouncing what it termed "outrageous lies" from Mr Miliband and swiftly enacted a series of retaliatory measures against Britain.

The Israeli Government has ordered the closure of the UK's consulate in East Jerusalem and expelled British diplomats from the country.

Israel also imposed entry bans on 11 left-wing MPs, among them Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott.

Israel's finance ministry indicated it was exploring ways to cushion the economic blow, pledging more than £48million in grants to West Bank farmers affected by the sanctions.

A senior ministry official told the Israel Hayom newspaper: "It's too early to tell the total impact of the sanctions, because we're currently in only the declarative stage, which leaves time to negotiate."

Eight Middle Eastern and majority-Muslim nations voiced their backing for Britain's decision.

Foreign ministers from Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — the latter a longstanding Israeli ally — issued a joint statement welcoming the move "to ban the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory".

Iran also appeared to view the sanctions favourably, with the country's state broadcaster running the story under the headline: "Britain gives in to taking a hard line against the Israeli regime."

Meanwhile, Israeli officials signalled their intention to contain the scope of the measures through diplomacy, hoping to restrict them to direct settlement exports and shield the banking sector from potential blacklisting over inadvertent links to sanctioned entities.

Ameer Kotecha, who led on Palestinian affairs while working in the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, also warned Labour's sanctions risk backfiring on the people of Gaza.

He said: “The consulate is basically the place coordinating all of our humanitarian and aid efforts for Gaza.

“There is a very real argument here that this is going to harm the ordinary Gazans that the average British person wants to support and assist.”

Mr Kotecha added that there is likely to be “huge amounts of scrambling going on” to continue such programmes.

Settler attacks in the West Bank topped 1,000 this year, data compiled by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has revealed.

The attacks spanned across 230 communities at an average of six incidents a day – the highest rate on record – and have displaced 2,200 Palestinians.