PM Johnson says UK wants urgent de-escalation to Israel violence

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Cleves Cross Primary School in Ferryhill

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday Britain wanted to see an urgent de-escalation of violence in Israel after days of clashes between Jewish Israelis and the country's Arab minority.

"Certainly we in the UK are very sad to see what is happening and the cycle of violence that now seems to be taking place," Johnson told reporters.

"I think it's important that we break that cycle and we end this idea of reprisals, and I think that what everybody wants to see is urgent, urgent de-escalation."

(Reporting by William James; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)