By Thanasis Gavou,
London

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak traveled to Israel late Wednesday night, Downing Street announced, which had not previously confirmed information about the British leader’s mission to the region.

Mr Shunak will hold meetings with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, as well as with the country’s President Isaac Herzog.

After Israel the British Prime Minister will visit “a number of other regional capitals”, which are not specified in advance for security reasons. It is likely that he will seek to be in Amman and Cairo.

He will return to London on Friday afternoon.

At the same time, Foreign Minister James Cleverly will have contacts in Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.

The aim of the British political leadership contacts will be to open passages to and from Gaza for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the exit of trapped civilians, as well as to prevent the conflict from spreading.

In a statement before departing for the Middle East, Mr. Sunak said “the attack on Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza should be a watershed moment for leaders in the region and around the world to join forces to avoid further dangerous escalation of the conflict”.

He added that he would ensure that Britain was at the forefront of these efforts.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak, contradicting President Biden’s statement from Israel about the perpetrators of the deadly attack on Al Ahli Hospital, said that jumping to conclusions should be avoided until a thorough analysis of the available evidence is done.

Meanwhile on Wednesday the Foreign Office updated its travel advice for Lebanon, “encouraging” Britons in the country to leave as long as commercial flights are available and recommending avoiding travel to any part of the country.