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Downing Street says UK welcomes Blair meeting with Hamas to revive Gaza peace deal
No.10 aide said the UK was 'continuing to work with all our partners to end conflict there and the terror threat from Hamas'
Downing Street has said the UK government would “welcome” any effort to secure peace in Gaza, after Tony Blair held meetings with Hamas leaders in Cairo, Egypt, aimed at rescuing the stalled plan to end the conflict in the region.
The former prime minister and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with Nikolay Meladenov, a high representative of the Board of Peace, held talks on Sunday to push the terror group to give up much of its weaponry.
Blair and Kushner were due to meet Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in Jerusalem on Monday to report back on the talks and the attempt to rescue the Gaza peace plan.
The talks with Hamas leaders have prompted strong criticism from many leaders in Israel, but others say they are a sign of growing frustration with the Netanyahu government’s rejection of moves to revive a peace deal.
Asked for the UK’s response, Andy Burnham’s spokesperson stressed that Blair operated of his own accord, but added that “more broadly any efforts to secure peace in Gaza are welcome,” underlining the government’s support for renewed diplomatic engagement.
The No.10 aide said the UK was “continuing to work with all our partners to end conflict there and the terror threat from Hamas.”
In Monday’s briefing with Westminster journalists, the Downing Street spokesperson also refused to rule out the possibility of new sanctions by the UK against Israel over settler violence and settlement expansion, signalling that more measures could be imposed if the situation does not improve.
The violence in the West Bank was “completely unacceptable”, said the No.10 aide, who pointed to the government’s track record of introducing sanctions, including against far-right Israeli ministers.
They confirmed the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) were “working” on new measures, but refused to discuss when these might be implemented, including a possible settlement trade ban.
Jewish News has previously reported on the Prime Minister’s initial view to introduce new sanctions against Israel when parliament returns from recess next month.
Sources said there was a “small window of opportunity” to act against the Netanyahu government ahead of the Israeli elections in October.
But some diplomats have urged a delay in sanctions, fearing Netanyahu would seek to make capital out of any new targeting by the UK ahead of the crunch election on the 27th of October.
The Gaza peace agreement, reached last year, brought about a ceasefire in Gaza, following Israel’s response to the October 7th atrocity by Hamas.
Israel still controls much of the territory and refuses to withdraw until Hamas disarms. The differences between the two sides have prevented progress towards reconstruction envisaged under the agreement.
Netanyahu publicly rejected a revised plan last week, a move in part influenced by political campaigning before Israel’s general election in October.
It is understood Hamas sent officials, including its new chief, Khalil al-Hayya, to the talks in Cairo.
The US has negotiated directly with the Islamist group before to free Israeli hostages who had been captured on October 7, 2023 and, more recently, to try to enforce its disarmament.
Kushner’s last meeting with Hamas officials, in October 2025, resulted in the ceasefire agreement and the exchange of the remaining hostages held captive, dead and alive.
Hamas said after Sunday’s meeting with Blair and Kushner that it had asked the Board of Peace to “compel” Israel to accept the Gaza peace plan and “end all violations, halt killings and incursions, [and] approve the roadmap for the second phase” of the US-brokered ceasefire plan.
Kushner is understood to have told Hamas it needed to take tangible steps on disarmament if it wanted Israel to take steps of its own, a source told the news outlet.
The US and Hamas delegations also discussed the decommissioning of Hamas weapons and terror infrastructure, IDF withdrawal, and reconstruction and humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza.
Israel has refused a phased withdrawal from the Yellow Line, the new border with Hamas, based on any gradual disarmament that would see armed groups keep weapons inside Gaza.
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