Brown hopes for ceasefire in 'darkest moment' for Middle East

London, Jan 7 (DPA) British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Tuesday described the fighting in Gaza as the 'darkest moment yet for the Middle East' but said he was hopeful that a ceasefire could be reached.

'We must work hard in the next few hours - and days - to reach a ceasefire,' Brown told reporters in Downing Street.

He said he had been discussing the situation with fellow world leaders, including from Egypt and Turkey, and had put forward proposals for making progress.

'I am hopeful that the basis on which an immediate ceasefire can take place can be found,' Brown said, without specifying what the proposals were.

Any deal would have to involve an immediate ceasefire, an end to the smuggling of weapons through tunnels into the Gaza strip as well as an 'opening up of borders under international supervision'.

Brown, who spoke shortly after an Israeli airstrike Tuesday on a UN-run school in Gaza, described the situation as a 'humanitarian crisis'.

'This is the darkest moment yet for the Middle East and it affects the whole of the world,' he said.