LONDON, July 29. /TASS/. Recently elected UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told Israeli President Isaac Herzog that it is necessary to take steps to achieve a truce in the Gaza Strip.

"The Prime Minister said there must be immediate steps towards a ceasefire, so that hostages can be released and more humanitarian aid can get in for those in desperate need," Starmer’s office said in a statement, following a meeting of the two politicians in Paris. The UK prime minister "reiterated his ongoing support for Israel’s right to self-defense in accordance with international law."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria, followed by a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.