Middle East minister Alistair Burt became the first Foreign Office minister to visit the Gaza Strip in five years on Tuesday, as he toured a United Nations school in Jabalia refugee camp and met business leaders in Gaza City.

A deal to secure the freedom of Sergeant Gilad Shalit has been accepted by Israel, but not by Hamas, German officials have confirmed.

The comments by German government spokesman Steffen Seibert supported a claim by Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday about a German-brokered deal to return the soldier home more than five years after he was captured by Hamas.

Rallies and protests were held around the world to mark the fifth anniversary of the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit by Hamas.

The Israeli soldier was 19 when he was seized at the Gaza border by terrorists.

In Israel, hundreds of people travelled to the spot where Sergeant Shalit was taken , for a ceremony where they waved Israeli flags and read a letter from his grandfather.

Human rights groups and Jewish organisations have reiterated calls for Hamas to release an Israeli soldier kidnapped five years ago.

Binyamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel will make conditions for jailed terrorists less relaxed in the face of Hamas' rejection of an appeal to prove Gilad Shalit is still alive.

The fifth anniversary of the capture of Gilad Shalit has rekindled the debate over the price worth paying for his release. A flurry of diplomatic activity in Israel in recent weeks has so far failed to deliver a breakthrough.

On Shabbat, June 25, it will be five years to the day in which Palestinian fighters attacked a tank by Kerem Shalom, killed two and took Shalit.