A NORTH-EAST schoolboy has begged world leaders to intervene in the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.

Ten-year-old Caleb Stand has issued an emotive plea to Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama to end the suffering of children in Gaza.

He put pen to paper after being left horrified by news reports of the conflict which has so far killed more than 200 Palestinian children and left more than a thousand injured.

In a letter to Mr Cameron, he said: “It makes me feel sad that the children in Gaza have to live in a war zone while I am living in a safe, protected country.

“It would be an honour if you could do something to help the Palestinians and help re-build their homes, hospitals and schools and please stop Israel from doing any more damage to Palestine.”

Today, Caleb criticised the lack of action from the UK government and said he wrote the letter in the hope of seeing an end to the “pointless” war.

He said: “There are lots and lots of children dying and it’s horrible, I hate it.

“It would be horrible living there, especially as a child being brought up in a war zone. It will have a massive effect on them and must be awful.

“It’s unfair, the only people they seem to be killing are innocent people instead of the armies that started it all.

“Every child has the right to live freely and in a safe country without being attacked constantly and our government is not doing enough to support that right.”

He added: “If I saw the Israeli and Palestinian leaders together I’d ask them why they were bombing each other and tell them they should treat people with respect.

“Everyone gets into arguments, but they shouldn’t be taking land or bombing each other.

“I’d just like there to be peace and it would be nice if Israel would give Palestine their land back.”

Caleb urged other children to follow in his footsteps, saying: “Other children should write letters too, we have a voice and it should be heard and people say it’s just as powerful when a child writes a letter as an adult.”

Caleb’s siblings also wrote letters to world leaders with the backing of parents Melanie and Martin Stand who said they were proud of their children’s direct action.