Britain's newly appointed Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, on Friday reiterated his support for international efforts to secure an "immediate ceasefire" in the Israel-Hamas war and for the release of remaining hostages, AFP reported.
Lammy, 51, said he would "get to work with tireless diplomacy" towards those goals, in his first comments after becoming the country's top diplomat.
New Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer had confirmed Lammy -- the party's spokesperson on foreign affairs since 2021 -- in the post hours earlier, following Labour's landslide victory in the UK general election held Thursday.
"All of us recognize the agony of communities who have seen the scenes coming out of Israel and Gaza," Lammy said from the Foreign Office on Friday, according to AFP.
"But the job now is to get to work with tireless diplomacy to support an immediate ceasefire and move towards getting those hostages out," he added.
Lammy added that he will "do all I can diplomatically" to support US President Joe Biden's efforts to secure the ceasefire.
Lammy replaces David Cameron in the role of Foreign Secretary. Cameron last month called on Hamas to accept the new ceasefire deal outlined by Biden.
According to the proposal outlined by Biden, the first phase of the three-phase process would last for six weeks and would include a full and complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza, and the release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian Arab prisoners.
Phase two would see the release of all remaining living hostages, while phase three would encompass "a major reconstruction plan for Gaza," said the President, as well as the repatriation of the remains of deceased hostages to their families.
The UK government under Starmer's predecessor, Rishi Sunak, has supported the US-led efforts, and Labour regaining power is not expected to represent a shift in London's policy towards the conflict.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)