Britain aims to play an “important role” in helping humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday, as he met the Egyptian and Palestinian leaders in Cairo.

Mr Sunak met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after travelling from Saudi Arabia to Egypt on the third day of his trip to address the Gaza crisis.

In separate talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Mr Sunak said the UK “believes very strongly in providing extra humanitarian aid into Gaza”.

“We look forward to playing an important role together with Egypt in making sure that aid can get to people as quickly as possible,” he said.

Downing Street said the UK's priority was for the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt to be open for British nationals to leave and humanitarian aid to enter the strip.

A convoy bringing supplies of food, medicine and water is waiting for repairs to roads on the Palestinian side of the crossing, after they were damaged in Israeli air strikes.

Sarah Champion, the chair of the UK Parliament's cross-party international development committee, on Friday described Mr Sunak's offer of £10 million in ($12.1 million) in extra Palestinian aid as “pitiful”.

Mr Sunak called on “all leaders” to work together to “avoid any regional escalation” following Hamas’s attacks on Israel.

“We now mourn the loss of every innocent life that has been lost. People of every faith, of every nationality. Palestinians are victims of Hamas too,” he told Mr El Sisi.

“That is why what we are doing on the aid side together is so important. I also share with you a vision for the Palestinian people where they can live with security and opportunity and dignity.”

Downing Street released images of Mr Sunak meeting Mr Abbas but there was no immediate word on the content of their discussion.

Mr Sunak has held talks with the leaders of Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar during his trip, with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also in the region.

In his Riyadh meeting with Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Tamim, Mr Sunak said the UK would use “all tools at our disposal” to support Qatari efforts to have hostages released by Hamas.

The two leaders “agreed that leaders had a responsibility to do everything possible” to prevent violence from escalating across the region, according to Mr Sunak's office.

Egypt is expected to hold a peace summit on Saturday, two weeks after the surprise Hamas offensive on Israeli settlements in which more than 1,400 people were killed and about 200 taken captive back to Gaza.

Retaliatory Israeli bombardments of Gaza have killed more than 4,000 people.

There are concerns that the Israel-Gaza war will grow into a wider regional conflict.

Egypt and Jordan have both ruled out taking in Palestinian refugees.

Nine British nationals are confirmed to have been killed in the Hamas raids on October 7, while a further seven are missing, with some “feared to be among the dead or kidnapped”, Downing Street said.