British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday called on all parties to exercise “caution” along the border between Israel and Lebanon in his first telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A spokesperson for Starmer’s 10 Downing Street office said Starmer told his counterpart that “the situation on Israel’s northern border remains very worrying, and it is important that all parties act with caution.”
Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement fired 20 rockets into northern Israel on Sunday, wounding one person, in the latest cross-border attack seen as a show of solidarity with Gaza-based Palestinian group Hamas.
There has been almost daily gunfire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces along Lebanon’s southern border since Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally Hamas attacked Israel last year and started the war in Gaza.
While discussing the conflict, the Prime Minister reiterated his condolences for the heavy loss of life in the October 7 attacks, the spokesperson said.
“He then highlighted the clear and urgent need for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and an immediate increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching civilians.”
In his talks with Netanyahu, Starmer said it was also “vital that the long-term conditions for a two-state solution are put in place, including ensuring that the Palestinian Authority has the financial means to operate effectively”.
Efforts are underway to reach a ceasefire, which mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt hope will prevent the deadliest Gaza war yet, which has left huge civilian casualties and devastation to the coastal region.
The spokesperson said that the Prime Minister also spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over the phone.
Starmer told Abbas that there was “no change in his long-standing policy to recognise the contribution to the peace process, and that is an indisputable right of the Palestinians.”
The October 7 attack on southern Israel killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli data.
Hamas has also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, 42 of whom the military says are dead.
Responsive Israeli military strikes have killed at least 38,153 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
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