Occupied Jerusalem Britain is “gravely concerned” by the high number of civilian casualties resulting from Israel’s military operation in Gaza, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Thursday.
Speaking on his first official visit to the region since taking over as Britain’s top diplomat, Hammond said London would do everything it could to help broker a quick end to the hostilities. At a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hammond expressed Britain’s support for Israel’s right to self-defence, acknowledging that the current fighting was caused by Hamas firing rockets “indiscriminately” at Israeli towns and cities.
“But we are gravely concerned by the ongoing heavy level of civilian causalities,” he said.
“We want to see a ceasefire quickly agreed. We welcomed the earlier ceasefire proposal by Egypt and we were grateful to you, prime minister, for your immediate agreement to it.
“We are disappointed that Hamas has apparently once again rejected ceasefire proposals.”
Hammond, making his first foreign trip since his appointment last week, later flew to Cairo for further talks, the Foreign Office said.
The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published figures on Wednesday showing more than 80 percent of the casualties were civilians, and a quarter of them children.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos expressed deep concern Thursday about the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza, telling BBC radio that it was “almost impossible” for Palestinians to shelter from Israeli airstrikes.
