David Lammy travelling to Israel ‘to use every diplomatic lever to end war’

Ahead of ‘last chance’ ceasfire talks, Washington says Israeli forces will not be able to eliminate Hamas or free all remaining hostages

David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has vowed to “use every diplomatic lever to bring about a ceasefire” to Israel’s war with Hamas ahead of a trip to the region on Friday.
Mr Lammy will meet with his Israeli counterpart who is expected to urge him to impose sanctions on Iran and declare the IRGC a terrorist organisation. He will also be joined by France’s foreign minister.
Senior US officials now believe Benjamin Netanyahu’s forces have severely diminished Hamas but will not be able to eliminate the terror group entirely, according to a report in the New York Times.
An Israeli delegation arrived in Qatar on Thursday in what has been described as a “last chance” to negotiate a ceasefire deal with Hamas, which could avert a looming attack by Iran and Hezbollah on Israel.
John Kirby, the White House national security council spokesman, said on Thursday that “from a military perspective, Israel has definitely achieved the vast majority of its objectives”.
After the first round of talks on Thursday, Mr Kirby said: “Today is a promising start. There remains a lot of work to do.”
American and Israeli officials told the New York Times that it is not possible to free all 115 hostages in Gaza through military operations, repeating a claim already made by the IDF.
Hamas declined to join the ceasefire talks in Doha, instead arguing that an outline presented by Joe Biden in a speech on May 31 should be implemented instead of renewing negotiations.
The deal would end the war, free all hostages, release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel and allow for the reconstruction of Gaza.
While the US said that both Israel and Hamas have largely agreed to the framework presented by Mr Biden, both parties have expressed reservations over remaining issues such as the presence of Israeli forces in Gaza.
One of the main sticking points is the issue of a critical buffer zone known as the Philadelphi corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt. Israel took control of the zone when it launched its ground offensive in Rafah in May.
Since then, Israel has discovered dozens of tunnels crossing from Gaza into Egypt, which has only strengthened Israel’s claim that it must control the corridor to prevent further smuggling of arms.
An Israeli official told The Telegraph that Mr Netanyahu stands by his demand that Israel control the corridor.
Hamas and Israel have repeatedly accused each other of sabotaging the negotiations and presenting new demands.
The push for a ceasefire is linked to the threat of a regional war as both Iran and Hezbollah have threatened to attack Israel following assassinations of top Hezbollah and Hamas leaders in Beirut and Tehran last month.
Hezbollah has previously said that it will stop attacking Israel if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, while Iranian officials told Reuters that only a ceasefire could make Iran reconsider an attack on Israel.
Mr Kirby said that Washington has information that an attack “could come with little or no warning, and certainly could come in the coming days, and we have to be ready for it”.
Should Iran decide to attack, Mr Kirby added, “they could do it with little or no notice… We don’t want it to come to that”.