Britain's top diplomat David Cameron on Thursday called for a "sustainable ceasefire" in fighting between Israel and Hamas fighters since early October, stressing to need "to get aid into Gaza."

"I want this conflict to end as soon as possible," the foreign secretary said at a news conference in Cairo, alongside his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, on the second day of a visit to the region.

The war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by the Palestinian group's cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7.

Israel has responded with a withering ground and air war that the Hamas government of the Gaza Strip says has killed more than 20,000 people, mostly women and children.

'Sustainable ceasefire'

"What we need is a sustainable ceasefire… and where the fighting can stop and the talks about how we have a long-term solution" can take place, Cameron said.

"Everything that can be done must be done to get aid into Gaza, to help people in the desperate situation that they're in."

His visit comes as talks between Israel and Hamas on a potential truce were underway via foreign intermediaries.

Cameron, a former British prime minister, earlier on Thursday met with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, after a visit to Jordan.

Long-standing mediator

Cairo is a long-standing mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and oversees the only border crossing into the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel at Rafah.

Egypt was among the countries that negotiated the release of around 100 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel during a one-week truce that collapsed in early December.

Cameron is due to travel later on Thursday to El-Arish, a coastal Egyptian town where aid destined for Gaza's 2.4 million residents is coordinated, Britain's foreign ministry said.

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