THE Jewish Chronicle has apologised to readers angered by its decision to run an advert appealing for funds to help the child victims of Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

More than £9 million was raised by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) drive in its first week, partly thanks to full-page promotions in a number of newspapers.

But the appearance in the Chronicle of the ad - which featured a picture of a young Palestinian boy and said thousands more were "injured, homeless and living in fear" - sparked anger from some readers.

The quantity of complaints received and anger expressed online was sufficient for the newspaper to issue a statement saying: "We apologise for the upset caused". Including the ad was "meant as a purely humanitarian gesture" and was "not an expression of the JC's views", it said.

A large majority of the comments posted to the online statement were critical of the decision to apologise.