British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said allies were working to defuse tensions in the Middle East and agreed there was no “military-only solution” amid fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continue.
US President Joe Biden has suggested that it would be easier to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah than to forge one between Israel and Hamas.
Joe Biden said he discussed the path forward to ending the Middle East conflict after the elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and President Donald Trump. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during their meeting in Berlin on Friday.
“There is an opportunity, in my view and my colleagues agree, that we can probably deal with Israel and Iran in a way that ends the conflict for a period of time,” he said .
“In other words, it ends the back and forth. We think it is possible to work towards a ceasefire in Lebanon. And it will be more difficult in Gaza. But we agree on the there must be a result.
Mr. Biden would not say whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had assured him, during their telephone conversation on Thursday after the confirmation of Mr. Sinwar’s death, that the Israelis were ready to resume negotiations on the hostages and the ceasefire.
“We are in the middle of discussions about this,” Joe Biden said.
For his part, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the allies were working to defuse tensions in the region and agreed there was no “just a military solution.”
“The answer is diplomacy. We must now make the most of this moment. What is needed now is a ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, access immediate humanitarian assistance and a return to the two-State solution, the only way to ensure long-term peace and security,” he said.
Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily since the Gaza war erupted in October, displacing thousands of people on both sides of the border.
These hostilities have intensified significantly recently, with both sides striking targets deeper inside their respective countries.
On September 30, Israel launched what it called a targeted ground operation in Lebanon, aimed at finding and eliminating Hezbollah positions.
It is believed that there could be up to 15,000 Israeli troops inside Lebanon.
On Friday, Hezbollah said its fight against Israel was entering a new phase, as the region faces the assassination of Yahya Sinouar.
Hezbollah is ideologically aligned with the Gaza-based militant group Hamas and has begun firing on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The war in Gaza erupted on October 7 last year after the militant group Hamas launched a lightning incursion into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage back to the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military response was almost immediate and devastated Gaza. The United Nations said in August that about 80 percent of buildings in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed.
This triggered a large-scale humanitarian disaster, with tens of thousands of Gazans displaced within the Strip, often living in squalid tent camps with little or no access to food, fresh water and medical facilities.
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 42,000 people have been killed in just over a year of fighting, but it does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tally.