Questions were mounting yesterday over the death of Iain Hook, the British United Nations relief worker killed in Jenin refugee camp, after it emerged that the Israeli army had failed to react to repeated telephone calls from Mr Hook pleading for a ceasefire so he could evacuate staff from the UN compound where he died.

An initial investigation by the Israeli army found that it was an Israeli soldier who fired the bullet that killed Mr Hook, Israeli radio reported yesterday. The Israeli army declined to confirm the report, saying its investigation was not yet finished.

Mr Hook, 54, from Felixstowe in Suffolk, was shot dead inside a clearly marked UN compound on Friday. The Israeli army had surrounded a building nearby where a wanted Palestinian militant was believed to be hiding, and gunfire broke out.

"We requested repeatedly to the Israelis that they cease fire long enough for us to be able to evacuate not only UN staff, but also a disabled woman who was living in the building opposite the one the Israeli operation was centred on," said Paul McCann, a spokesman for UNRWA, the UN agency Mr Hook worked for, which provides humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's office in Jerusalem had also made several calls to the Israeli army without success.