Two MPs and a peer visiting the Gaza Strip have accused the Israeli army of firing shots in their direction.

A statement issued by the group said they had been forced to withdraw from their location after coming under fire from a near-by Israeli Defence Force (IDF) observation post.

The three - Labour MP Huw Irranca-Davies, Conservative MP Crispin Blunt and Baroness Northover of the Liberal Democrats - said they would seek an explanation from the Israeli authorities on their return to London.

They were visiting the site of the killing of Tom Hurndall, a photographer and peace activist who was shot by the Israeli army.

During their visit "shots were fired in their direction from an Israeli observation post on the border". 

"At  4.00pm on arriving at the site in the Jibna district of Rafah, where a large number of children were present, there was a short burst of machine gun fire from the Israeli OP and once the party had withdrawn to where the clearly marked United Nations vehicles from the office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs were parked, there was a further shot at the building next to the cars, impacting above the heads of the parliamentarians and their UN escort," said a press statement.

The incident prompted the three parliamentarians to comment: "If the IDF treat the UN in this fashion it is scarcely surprising that over 100 Palestinians died and over 400 were wounded in Gaza in the month of May alone."