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All “responsible” players in the region should be working towards an immediate cessation of the hostilities which have now entered their 11th day, the Mr Blair said.

The former Prime Minister spoke from Jerusalem where he is working as a peace envoy for the quartet the EU, UN, US and Russia, involved in brokering peace in the Middle East.

Mr Blair, who yesterday spoke to Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There are circumstances in which we could get an immediate ceasefire, and that is what people want to see.

“These circumstances focus very much around clear action to cut off the supply of arms and money through the tunnels that go from Egypt into Gaza.

“I think if there were strong, clear, definitive action on that, that gives us the best context to give us an immediate ceasefire and start to change this situation.

“From my conversations, not just with Tzipi Livni but the Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister and others, I think that is the one basis on which we could bring a quick halt to this. Otherwise, I think we are in for a protracted campaign.”

European foreign policy chief Javier Solana has indicated that Europe would be prepared to monitor Rafah. During a stop in Egypt yesterday Mr Solana, who has been touring the Middle East on a diplomatic mission with the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, said that European monitors - once stationed on Gaza’s border with Egypt - would be ready to return to work at the crossing after a ceasefire is achieved.

Under a 2005 deal, the Rafah crossing can only be opened to normal traffic if European Union observers and Palestinian security forces are at the border, which is also monitored by Israel.

Mr Blair said that talks on the issue were ongoing within the international community and between Israel and Egypt. And he said that, while he and other international representatives refuse to speak to Hamas, the movement’s leadership in Gaza was well aware of the position from their own discussions with Egypt.

It was “difficult to judge” whether Hamas was ready to take the necessary steps to end the violence, he said.

“If they [Hamas] truly do care about the people in Gaza, there is a possible way through this which would have an immediate halt and cessation of hostilities, and that is obviously what any responsible person should try to achieve.

Mr Blair said he had made representations to the Israeli authorities about access for humanitarian supplies to Gaza.

He said: “For anyone living in Gaza, it is hell, it is bound to be. You are in a situation where you are in an effective war zone.

“It is not a very large piece of territory, it is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hamas positions are well dug in actually inside the civilian population, so the notion that having a war going on around Gaza is going to be anything other than a humanitarian catastrophe is absurd, obviously.”

Mr Blair urged Barack Obama, the incoming US President, to engage with the Middle East peace process as soon as he is inaugurated on January 20.

“The most important thing for the new administration is to grip this, focus on it,” he said. “It is in my view absolutely central to the security not just of this part of the world, but all the world. We have got to grip it and sort it and if we do that with the requisite dedication and energy and commitment, we can resolve it.”

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