UK medics go on hunger strike after being refused entry into Gaza

• Hammersmith team stuck in Egypt at Rafa crossing since 4 May
• Group on humanitarian mission to set up cardiac hospital unit

Their aim is to establish a cardiac surgery unit at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which currently has no such facility, and to help train medical students and junior doctors there. But the British medics have been denied access to the Palestinian territory at the Rafah crossing since the beginning of May.

Omar Mangoush, a cardiac surgeon at Hammersmith hospital, in London

had been to the crossing with his colleagues every day since arriving in Egypt on 4 May, only to be told they did not have permission to enter

he had been told by the British embassy that it had received a letter from the Egyptian foreign ministry saying the medics' request for access to Gaza had been "postponed"

But he claimed American aid workers had gained entry to Gaza at their first attempt with the support of the US embassy.