David Lammy said he hoped to see a hostage deal emerge “in the coming days” and called for an immediate ceasefire and a rapid increase of aid into Gaza as he continued his visit to the Middle East.
During his first trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories as Foreign Secretary, he met with political leaders and families of hostages held in Gaza.
Speaking alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday, Mr Lammy said: “I hope that we see a hostage deal emerge in the coming days.
“And I am using all diplomatic efforts, indeed last week with the G7 nations and particularly with (US secretary of state Antony Blinken) Tony Blinken, pressing for that hostage deal.
“And I hope too that we see a ceasefire soon and we bring an alleviation to the suffering and the intolerable loss of life that we’re now seeing also in Gaza.”
In Israel, he “spoke with families whose loved ones were murdered and taken hostage by Hamas”, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.
Photos shared on social media showed him embracing and shaking hands with those affected.
In Israel, Foreign Secretary @DavidLammy spoke with families whose loved ones were murdered and taken hostage by Hamas.
The UK continues to push for the immediate release of all hostages. pic.twitter.com/1bLezKjMXc
— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) July 15, 2024
The department also said on X: “In the West Bank @DavidLammy met Palestinian community members, where he heard the impact on communities suffering from settler violence and settlement expansion.
“Settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law and harm prospects for a two-state solution.”
In meetings on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mohammad Mustafa, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mr Lammy made the case for working towards a two-state solution to the conflict.
In his meeting with Mr Mustafa, the Cabinet minister “reiterated commitment to an irreversible pathway towards a 2SS (two-state solution), and that the UK would push for peace and stability,” the British Consulate in Jerusalem said in a statement on X.
Mr Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, also announced that the UK will provide another £5.5 million this year to UK-Med to fund its work in Gaza.
The medical aid charity sends experienced humanitarian medics, including those working in the NHS, to crisis-hit regions.
The funding will be used to support the ongoing work of its field hospitals and the emergency department at Nasser Hospital.
Today I met with Israeli PM @netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority PM Mustafa.
Our message is clear: we need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, unfettered access to aid in Gaza, and a pathway towards a two-state solution. pic.twitter.com/kmmIBsHgov
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) July 14, 2024
The conflict in Gaza has proved a thorn in Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s side since it began in October, with several senior Labour figures facing challenges at the general election from Independent candidates amid discontent with the party’s position on the war.
Former MP Jonathan Ashworth was one of several Labour candidates defeated by Independents who made Gaza a major part of their campaign.
Jeremy Corbyn and a group of fellow Independent MPs on Monday wrote to Mr Lammy with a series of demands over Gaza.
The five parliamentarians urged the Government to drop any legal challenge to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) application for an arrest warrant against Israel’s premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sir Keir’s administration faces questions over whether it will continue the previous Tory government’s objection to the ICC’s right to seek an arrest warrant against Mr Netanyahu for war crimes.
I have joined other independent MPs in writing to the Foreign Secretary, reminding him of the government's obligations under international law.
That involves dropping any legal challenge over the ICC's application for an arrest warrant of Israeli's PM Benjamin Netanyahu. pic.twitter.com/Fz4WyIXQTe
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) July 15, 2024
The demands in the MPs’ letter to the Foreign Secretary also include suspending all provision of weapons to Israel; restoring UK funding to Unrwa, the UN’s main agency providing aid in Gaza; advocating for an immediate ceasefire and hostage release deal; imposing sanctions on individuals and entities “inciting genocide against Palestinians”; and immediately recognising a Palestinian state.
The signatories are former Labour leader Mr Corbyn, Adnan Hussain, Ayoub Khan, Iqbal Mohamed and Shockat Adam.
Mr Lammy’s visit to the region comes after Israel’s latest strike on Gaza, which killed at least 90 people in the south of the territory.
The Israelis say the attack targeted Hamas’s military commander, Mohammed Deif, but it was not known whether he was among the dead.
Amnesty International UK said Mr Lammy’s trip was “an early test” of the Labour Government’s “commitment to international law”.
Chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: “It is welcome and necessary to see the new Foreign Secretary calling for a ceasefire and the release of civilian hostages in Gaza, both of which are essential.
“But David Lammy must also be prepared to tell the Israeli government that the UK will no longer enable, or even just ignore, Israeli war crimes, its illegal West Bank settlements or indeed Israel’s wider system of apartheid against the Palestinian people.
“This new Government needs to be strong and unequivocal in its application of international law, and Mr Lammy should be making clear that the UK will fully support the ICC and that UK arms can no longer flow to Israel after the succession of well-documented war crimes by Israeli forces in Gaza.”
