Britain’s new foreign secretary, David Lammy, on Friday reiterated support for international efforts to secure an “immediate ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Hamas and the release of the remaining hostages.
In his first comments since becoming the country’s top diplomat, the 51-year-old Lamy said he would “continue tireless diplomatic efforts” towards those twin goals.
New Labour Chancellor Keir Starmer confirmed Lammy’s appointment as the party’s foreign affairs spokesman from 2021 in a post just hours after Labour’s landslide victory in the UK general election on Thursday.
“We all understand the anguish of communities watching the images emanating from Israel and Gaza,” Lamy said from the Foreign Office.
“But the job now is to continue our tireless diplomatic efforts to support an immediate ceasefire and move towards the release of the hostages.”
Lammy, who replaced Conservative foreign secretary David Cameron, added that he would “do all we can diplomatically” to support US President Joe Biden’s efforts to secure a ceasefire.
Biden announced a path to a ceasefire agreement in May, which he said was proposed by Israel, that included an initial six-week ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated areas of the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants.
Nearly nine months into Israel’s war with Hamas, Israel’s intelligence chief was due to visit Qatar on Friday in the latest effort to seal an agreement and free hostages being held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
The British government of Starmer’s predecessor, Rishi Sunak, supported the US-led initiative and Labour’s return to power is not expected to signal a shift in London’s policy on the dispute.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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