is visiting Israel and the
Occupied Palestinian Territories today on his first trip to the
Middle East since becoming Foreign Secretary.
He will focus on the UK's diplomatic role in helping to bring the
conflict in Gaza to an end and making progress towards long-term
peace and security in the Middle East.
He will raise the urgent need for a ceasefire agreed by both
sides, which includes the release of all hostages and a rapid
increase of aid into Gaza.
The Foreign Secretary will also announce that the UK will provide
another £5.5m this year to UK-Med to fund their life-saving work
in Gaza. UK-Med is a frontline medical aid charity who send
experienced humanitarian medics, including those working in the
NHS, to crisis-hit regions to deliver life and limb-saving health
care.
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 vital work to treat thousands more patients
suffering from acute respiratory illnesses, infections, and
explosive fragmentation trauma cases.
Foreign Secretary, 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.
“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 will hold high-level talks with
Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Herzog to reiterate the
need to end the conflict in Gaza and secure the release of
hostages. He will meet with hostage families with links to the UK
whose loved ones have been murdered or taken by Hamas.
Highlighting more than 680 tonnes of UK aid in the region and
waiting to enter Gaza, including medicines, shelters and hygiene
kits, the Foreign Secretary will push the desperate need to
rapidly increase aid into Gaza.
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 vital 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.
