David Cameron has called for a pause in the Gaza conflict “today” to get hostages out of the arms of Hamas.
The Foreign Secretary also said “everything that can be done must be done” to get aid into the besieged enclave, including possibly using British ships to bring supplies by sea.
The former prime minister, who made a surprise return to the cabinet last month, made the comments on an official visit to Egypt, a key player in the region.
At the weekend the UK shifted its stance to back calls for a “sustained ceasefire” in the conflict, which ministers made clear cannot see Hamas remain in place. Previously Rishi Sunak had supported only “humanitarian pauses” and No 10 warned a ceasefire would aide only Hamas, who killed 1200 people on October 7.
Lord Cameron said the UK was ‘pushing very hard’ to ensure aid supplies reach Gaza (Desouki Ismail/Egyptian Foreign Ministry Media Office/AP)
“We want to see action,” he said during a joint press conference with the country’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. “We want to see aid come from Jordan, we want to see aid come across maritime routes.”
“In the meantime, I’m all in favour of pauses in the fighting so we can get hostages out and if we can have a pause today to start making that happen no one would be more delighted to me,” he added. “I want to see all the hostages released”.
Lord Cameron also said the UK was “pushing very hard” to ensure aid supplies reach Gaza, both through the reopened Kerem Shalom border crossing and potentially by sea.
“Are there opportunities for aid to come from Cyprus in British ships to be delivered to Gaza? We’re working on that.
“Everything that can be done, must be done to get aid into Gaza to help people in the desperate situation they are in,” he said.
Sir Keir Starmer said he backed Lord Cameron’s calls for a “sustainable ceasefire” in Gaza. The Labour leader also said he wanted a short-term pause in hostilities aimed at allowing more aid in and the release of hostages by Hamas.
“I do support a sustainable ceasefire,” he told reporters on a trip to Estonia to visit British troops. “What we’re arguing for a return to the position that we were in just a few weeks ago where hostilities did cease.”
Sir Keir added that his party is strongly in favour of a two-state solution to set up a Palestinian state – saying it should not be left “in the gift” of Israel.
He said the last ceasefire “provided a foothold for a political process to actually resolve this in favour of a two-state solution … That has to be something which international partners are very, very clear about, and is not in the gift of Israel.”
