British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Friday that progress has been made towards a deal to halt fighting in Gaza, bring in more aid and release Israeli hostages held there.

In an interview in Istanbul, Cameron said that Israel is considering a British proposal to open its Ashdod port to aid shipments to Gaza but that it would "take a lot of pushing" to reach an agreement.

"Achieving a pause where we stop the fighting and start looking at how to get aid in and hostages out, I think there is a prospect of that," Cameron told Reuters and a Turkish broadcaster. "That's what I've been in the region talking about. And I think we are making some progress."