Keir Starmer calls on Israel and Hezbollah to agree a ceasefire
Prime Minster Keir Starmer has called for Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a ceasefire, saying ‘escalation serves no one’.
In his opening address to the United Nations General Assembly, Sir Keir urged the two sides to ‘step back from the brink’.
It follows a devastating few days which has seen Israel pounding suspected Hezbollah positions across Lebanon in a series of missile strikes that threatens to plunge the Middle East into ‘all-out’ war.
The PM’s message to UN leaders comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned his nation’s military would continue with their onslaught ‘fighting at full force’ – as he rejected talks of a ceasefire between the two sides.
Sir Keir warned fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has the potential to spill into a wider war ‘that no one can control’.
‘I call on Israel and Hezbollah. Stop the violence. Step back from the brink,’ he told leaders during his speech in New York.
Prime Minster Keir Starmer has called for Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a ceasefire, saying ‘escalation serves no one’
‘We need to see an immediate ceasefire to provide space for a diplomatic settlement and we are working with all partners to that end.’
He warned the alternative is ‘more suffering for innocent people on all sides and the prospect of a wider war that no one can control and with consequences that none of us can foresee’.
Sir Keir also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages held by Hamas.
Addressing the humanitarian crisis, he said: ‘It shames us all that the suffering in Gaza continues to grow.’
Sir Keir called for the UN to be reformed and strengthened, saying the war in Ukraine was a test for the organisation.
He said the UK would ‘stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes’.
‘Because the alternative would be to confirm the worst claims about this place.
Addressing UN leaders in New York, Sir Keir warned fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has the potential to spill into a wider war ‘that no one can control’.
His speech comes after an devastating few days of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah which has seen the IDF pounding towns and cities across Lebanon
‘That international law is merely a paper tiger and that aggressors can do what they will.
‘We will never let that happen.’
Sir Keir’s speech was intended to show that under his premiership the UK would offer ‘responsible global leadership’.
He announced a new British International Investment initiative, working with the City of London to use billions of pounds from pension and insurance funds ‘to invest in boosting development and fighting climate change’.
Sir Keir also called for a new international levy on global shipping to ‘put a price on the true cost of emissions’ with the money raised going to tackle climate change.
The Prime Minister also demanded changes to the UN Security Council ‘to become a more representative body’ which was ‘willing to act – not paralysed by politics’.
That would involve permanent African representation on the body,
The existing five permanent members – the UK, US, France, China and Russia – should be joined by Brazil, India, Japan and Germany, he said.
And he promised a change in the way the UK acted too: ‘Moving from the paternalism of the past towards partnership for the future.
‘Listening a lot more – speaking a bit less.’
This is a breaking news story.
