David Cameron has pushed for more aid deliveries into Gaza and called on all sides in the conflict to reach what he called “a sustainable ceasefire”.
The Foreign Secretary was in Egypt yesterday as the death toll in Gaza rose to 20,000, according to Palestinian authorities.
Britain is calling for a long-term solution rather than a truce that would leave Hamas in place as a threat to Israel.
Having visited Jordan, Lord Cameron was in Cairo yesterday to meet Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and foreign minister Sameh Shoukry.
He travelled close to the border with Gaza to see aid operations there and urged more humanitarian assistance and fuel to be allowed in to the territory.
The United States said “serious” negotiations were taking place in Cairo, but admitted the initial talks on Wednesday had not borne fruit.
Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, reportedly told Egyptian mediators that no more Israeli hostages would be released until there was a permanent ceasefire. Israel maintains that the war will not be over until Hamas is eliminated.
The militant group yesterday fired more rockets at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
Former deputy UN Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown warned that the 20,000 Gaza death toll was likely to be an underestimate.
He said: “Often the casualties double when you’re able to clear the buildings and find those tragic casualties underneath them.
“I think the effort to sort of downplay the numbers is really out of place. This is one of the highest concentrations of civilian deaths in a conflict proportionately in modern times.” Meanwhile, a woman in her 80s was killed when Israel launched artillery and airstrikes on Hezbollah positions in the south of Lebanon late on Wednesday, according to sources in the country.
Israeli forces and Hezbollah have clashed along the Lebanese border almost daily since the start of the conflict.
