Sir Keir Starmer has stepped up calls for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon after fighting between Israel and armed group Hezbollah escalated.
“Stop the violence. Step back from the edge,” Israel’s prime minister said in his first speech to the UN General Assembly, despite Israeli ministers rejecting an international offer to temporarily halt the fighting.
Sir Keir told world leaders a ceasefire would provide space for a diplomatic solution to avoid conflict in the Middle East.
Fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah are at their peak after the deadliest escalation of cross-border attacks in decades.
Israeli air strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 600 people since Monday, including at least 92 on Thursday, according to local authorities.
Hezbollah responded by firing hundreds of rockets into northern Israel.
Israeli politicians have broadly rejected the idea of a ceasefire, three weeks after the 12-nation bloc including Britain, the United States and other allies proposed a moratorium on fighting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the country’s military Continue to fight “all out” when he arrived in New York on Thursday.
Speaking to the UN General Assembly, Sir Keir said an immediate ceasefire was needed to “provide space for a diplomatic solution”.
He warned that the conflict could turn into a war “that no one can control and whose consequences no one can foresee”.
Elsewhere in his speech, Sir Keir vowed to return the UK to “responsible global leadership” by recommitting to “the United Nations, internationalism and the rule of law”.
He also pledged to restore the UK’s “commitment to international development” and set out plans to change the international financial system to “provide developing countries with a fairer deal”.
Some 70,000 Israelis have been displaced from the north of the country since the war in Gaza sparked hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
According to the United Nations, some 90,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Monday, with a further 110,000 fleeing their homes.
However, the UK has urged British nationals in Lebanon to leave immediately as the situation escalates Some told the BBC of their difficulties fleeing the country.
Cross-border fighting continued on Thursday, with Israeli forces saying they had attacked Hezbollah targets in parts of southern and eastern Lebanon and on Lebanon’s border with Syria.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it had fired 50 rockets at the Atta settlement in northern Israel and 80 missiles at the city of Safed.
Israel’s military chief told troops on Wednesday that attacks against Hezbollah could pave the way for them “to move into enemy territory.”
Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi’s comments are the clearest indication yet from a senior figure that a ground invasion of Lebanon may be imminent.
