Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, who is also a member of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Government should demand an urgent explanation.

''If the Israeli government was party to behaviour of this kind it would be a serious violation of trust between nations,'' he said.

''If legitimate British passport holders were put at risk it would be a disgrace.

''Given the current speculation, the Israeli government has some explaining to do and the ambassador should be summoned to the Foreign Office to do so in double-quick time.''

His call came after Tory MP Hugo Swire, chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council, demanded a ''full investigation''.

One way of falsifying a nationality is to forge a passport or insert a new identity and picture into a stolen passport.

But a more effective way can be to steal a real person's identity and get a real passport in their name.

That looks to have been the tactic used by the team involved in the Dubai assassination.

This requires a level of sophistication suggesting an experienced intelligence organisation.

That fact will do nothing to quell the suspicion that Israel's Mossad was involved, particularly since it has used foreign passports for previous operations including the 1997 attempt on the life of Khaled Meshal in Jordan, when two operatives used Canadian passports.

Six British men and a blonde Irish woman are among an alleged hit squad wanted in Dubai for the assassination of a Hamas commander in his luxury hotel room.

Gail Folliard is said to be part of an 11-strong gang  -  some wearing fake beards and wigs  -  who disguised themselves with tennis clothes and rackets in a highly orchestrated murder.

They arrived on separate flights and spent less than a day in the emirate, tracking their victim to his five-star residence, the al-Bustan Rotana, near the airport before ambushing and suffocating him.

Evidence relating to the death of Government weapons inspector David Kelly is to be kept secret for 70 years, it has been reported.

A highly unusual ruling by Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry into Dr Kelly's death, means medical records including the post-mortem report will remain classified until after all those with a direct interest in the case are dead, the Mail on Sunday reported.

And a 30-year secrecy order has been placed on written records provided to Lord Hutton's inquiry which were not produced in evidence.

A Sudanese government minister has confirmed reports of an air raid in eastern Sudan earlier this year.

The minister, Mabrook Mubarak Saleem, told an Arabic news channel that many people had been killed in the strike, said to have taken place last month.

Israeli officials have not commented publicly on reports that their planes may have been involved.

Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, did not confirm any raid but said Israel hit everywhere to stop terror.

"That was true in the north," said Mr Olmert, "and it was true in the south ... Those who need to know, know there is no place where Israel cannot operate."

Giving a speech in the coastal town of Herzliya, the outgoing prime minister said: "We operate in many places near and far, and carry out strikes in a manner that strengthens our deterrence."

The CBS television network said it had been told by American officials that a strike by Israeli planes in January had succeeded in preventing weapons from Sudan reaching Gaza.

Mr Mabrook Mubarak Saleem said those killed in the air raid had been civilians from a number of African countries.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says Israel's response is following a traditional pattern, set when it attacked a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007, of first refusing to confirm an alleged strike and then giving a nod and a wink.

What we are getting now from Mr Olmert is clearly the nod and the wink, our correspondent says.

My anger at the conduct of the Jean Charles De Menezes inquest has already been strongly expressed.

I only wish now to add that it is essential that the perjured police be jailed. The jury unequivocally and explicitly found that the police witnesses had lied and that the unanimous evidence of seventeen non-police witnesses had told the truth. There is no possible conclusion other than that the police perjured themselves, and conspired together to concoct a joint lie.

It is now therefore essential to restore some faith in the legal system that the liars are jailed, and jailed for a long time, not just for perjury, but also for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.