A Brighton activist saw his colleague run down and killed by a bulldozer while trying to act as a human shield in the Middle East.

Sussex Action For Peace campaigner Richard Purssell was working alongside American Rachel Corrie, 23, in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza.

The pair were helping the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led organisation battling human rights abuses in the occupied territories.

Mr Purssell and Ms Corrie were staying with a Palestinian family whose home was threatened with demolition by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). They hoped their presence in the home would delay the bulldozers.

When a bulldozer and armoured personnel carrier approached the house, Ms Corrie went out to negotiate with the bulldozer driver, a young IDF soldier.

But when talks broke down she tried to save the family's home by blocking the bulldozer with her body. The driver did not stop and she was crushed. She was taken to Najar hospital in Rafah where she died later the same day after suffering a fractured skull.

Chris Osmond, of the Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: "This is the extent the Israeli state will go to to prosecute their illegal and unjust occupation."

Mr Purssell, 29, travelled to Palestine ten days ago and has extended his visa until April 6.

Israeli military spokesman Captain Jacob Dallal said Ms Corrie's death was an accident.

The US has asked Israeli officials to carry out a full investigation.