Jilani addressed the upper house of parliament on Friday as the first aid trucks rolled into Gaz.

He said that Pakistan had established contact with Egypt and Jordan and offered to host injured Palestinians for treatment.

However, he said, even airlifting the injured was subject to Israeli approval.

The foreign minister said that Israel was committing war crimes in its invasion of the Gaza Strip. He added that over 16,000 people had been killed so far in Gaza and over 40,000 injured.

Jilani said a temporary ceasefire agreement had finally been reached through which Hamas would release 50 prisoners in return for Israel releasing 150 prisoners.

He said that Israel was hoping that the issue would die down but protests across the world in favour of Palestine had laid waste to those plans.

The foreign minister said that the only solution to the matter was a free and independent Palestinian state.

Jilani said that Pakistan had used every available forum to tell the world that Israel was committing a genocide of the Palestinian population. He also said Pakistan had been vocal in calling for a ceasefire which has finally been achieved, albeit temporarily.