Labour Foreign Secretary David Lammy has met Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv and has urged an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Lammy also met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on his first Middle East visit as Foreign Secretary.
According to a statement, he called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all (Israeli) hostages and a rapid increase of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
He also made “the urgent case for a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution and announced £5.5m aid to UK-Med to support their ongoing work to provide humanitarian assistance and medical treatment to those in Gaza.
This funding will be used to support the ongoing work of their field hospitals and the emergency department at Nasser Hospital. It will allow medics, including those from the UK, to continue carrying out work to treat thousands more patients suffering from acute respiratory illnesses, infections, and explosive fragmentation trauma cases.
David Lammy said: “The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. This war must end now, with an immediate ceasefire, complied with by both sides. The fighting has got to stop, the hostages still cruelly detained by Hamas terrorists need to be released immediately and aid must be allowed in to reach the people of Gaza without restrictions.
“I am meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to stress the UK’s ambition and commitment to play its full diplomatic role in securing a ceasefire deal and creating the space for a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution. The world needs a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.
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“Central to this is to see an end to expanding illegal Israeli settlements and rising settler violence in the West Bank. Here, in what should be a crucial part of a Palestinian state, alongside Gaza and East Jerusalem, we need to see a reformed and empowered Palestinian Authority.”
In Israel, the Foreign Secretary also met President Isaac Herzog to reiterate the need to end the conflict in Gaza and secure the release of hostages. He is also due to meet with hostage families with links to the UK “whose loved ones have been murdered or taken by Hamas.”
The Foreign and Commonwealth office said in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Foreign Secretary “will welcome the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to delivering reform and reiterate the UK’s support to PM Mustafa and his government.”
The UK has provided £10 million in aid to support the Palestinian Authority this financial year through the World Bank. The funding will provide support for key services, for example through the payment of salaries for 8,200 doctors, nurses and other health workers over two months.
In meetings with President Abbas and Prime Minister Mustafa, “he will highlight his commitment to recognising a Palestinian state as an undeniable right of the Palestinian people, and as a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.”
He will also call out settlements in the West Bank as illegal and harmful to a two-state solution on visit to a Palestinian community.
Lammy is a self-confessed supporter of Israel and abstained from the ceasefire vote called by the Scottish National Party in November 2023.
However, in April Lammy called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, expressing his “serious concerns about a breach in international humanitarian law” over Israel’s offensive, saying “far too many people have died.”
He has also supported the international Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
