Hopes of a deal to free more Gaza hostages were on Monday raised by new British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
He also called for an immediate ceasefire and a rapid increase of aid into Gaza as he visited the Middle East.
During his first trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories as Foreign Secretary, he met with political leaders and families of hostages held in Gaza.
Speaking alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday, Mr Lammy said: "I hope that we see a hostage deal emerge in the coming days.
"And I am using all diplomatic efforts, indeed last week with the G7 nations and particularly with (US secretary of state Antony Blinken) Tony Blinken, pressing for that hostage deal.
"And I hope too that we see a ceasefire soon and we bring an alleviation to the suffering and the intolerable loss of life that we're now seeing also in Gaza."
In Israel, he "spoke with families whose loved ones were murdered and taken hostage by Hamas", the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.
Photos shared on social media showed him embracing and shaking hands with relatives of some of the individuals being held captive.
The department also said on X: "In the West Bank @DavidLammy met Palestinian community members, where he heard the impact on communities suffering from settler violence and settlement expansion.
"Settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law and harm prospects for a two-state solution."
Mr Lammy stressed in meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Sunday that Britain wants to assist with diplomatic efforts for “securing a ceasefire deal and creating the space for a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution”.
He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday and in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
He called for the release of all hostages being held in Gaza and a dramatic increase in the amount of humanitarian aid entering the besieged enclave.
Mr Lammy also demanded Israel halt settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, and said that the Palestinian Authority needs to be “reformed and empowered.”
Both Labour and the previous Conservative government initially avoided calling for an immediate ceasefire in the war, using phrases like “humanitarian pause.”
But the language has got stronger.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told Mr Netanyahu last week there was a “clear and urgent need for a ceasefire.”
Labour’s stance on the Gaza war cost it votes in the July 4 General Election.
Although the party won a landslide victory, pro-Palestinian independents defeated Labour candidates in several seats with large Muslim populations, most notably shadow Cabinet minister Jonathan Ashworth in Leicester South.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting held his Ilford North seat in north east London with a majority of just 528.
Mr Lammy’s comments came the day after Israel said it had targeted a Hamas military commander in a massive strike Saturday in the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed at least 90 people, including children, according to local health officials.
Top Hamas officials said on Sunday that the negotiations for a possible ceasefire deal had not been halted because of the attack.
Hamas also denied that Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, the target of the strike, was killed and said Israel’s “false claims are merely a cover-up for the scale of the horrific massacre.”
Deif and Hamas’ top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, are believed by Israel to be the chief architects of the October 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped 250, triggering the latest Israel-Hamas war.
Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,400 people in Gaza and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
