LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s foreign minister Dominic Raab will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders on a one-day visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Foreign Office said on Tuesday, as a ceasefire holds following the worst outbreak of fighting in years.
Raab will have talks on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Benny Gantz, as well as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.
“The events of the last month demonstrate the urgent need to make genuine progress towards a more positive future for both Israelis and Palestinians…,” Raab said in a statement.
“The UK supports a two-state solution as the best way to deliver a lasting peace.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged on a Middle East mission on Tuesday that Washington would provide new aid to help rebuild Gaza as part of efforts to bolster a ceasefire between its Islamist Hamas rulers and Israel.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas, Editing by William Maclean and Mark Heinrich)
