UK Foreign Minister Cameron to Visit Jordan, Egypt This Week 

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (not pictured), in Amman, Jordan December 20, 2023. (Reuters)
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (not pictured), in Amman, Jordan December 20, 2023. (Reuters)
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UK Foreign Minister Cameron to Visit Jordan, Egypt This Week 

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (not pictured), in Amman, Jordan December 20, 2023. (Reuters)
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (not pictured), in Amman, Jordan December 20, 2023. (Reuters)

British foreign minister David Cameron will travel to Jordan and Egypt this week to push for a sustainable ceasefire and further humanitarian pauses in Gaza, the foreign office said on Wednesday.

Cameron, on his second visit to the region, will travel with Britain's Minister of State for the Middle East Tariq Ahmad and "progress efforts to secure the release of all hostages, step up aid to Gaza and end Hamas rocket attacks and threats against Israel."

In Jordan, Cameron will meet his counterpart Ayman Safadi and in Egypt, he will travel to Al Arish, near the Egypt-Gaza border, to see the impact of UK aid being sent to Gaza.

On Sunday, Britain, the European Union and more than a dozen partner countries including Australia and Canada, called on Israel to take immediate and concrete steps to tackle settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

Last week, Cameron announced that those responsible for settler violence against Palestinians would be banned from entering Britain, following a similar plan by the EU.



Israeli Govt' Official Says Delegation Sent to Negotiate Hostage Deal with Hamas

Destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes (AP)
Destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes (AP)
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Israeli Govt' Official Says Delegation Sent to Negotiate Hostage Deal with Hamas

Destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes (AP)
Destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes (AP)

An Israeli government official said on Thursday that a delegation has been sent to negotiate a hostage release deal with Hamas.
Under a deal brokered in late November by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, more than 100 of the estimated 240 hostages taken to Gaza during an attack by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7 were freed in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, Reuters reported.
Since then, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced mounting pressure to secure the release the 136 hostages who remain in captivity.