Whitehall’s emergency COBRA committee was meeting on Thursday to discuss evacuating Britons trapped in Gaza ahead of a military invasion by Israel.
Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden said the meeting early in the morning would also consider efforts to get British hostages seized by terror group Hamas out of Gaza.
It will also discuss pleas from Britain and other nations for Israel to agree to “pauses” to allow in aid and medical supplies into the besieged strip
Ahead of the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Mr Dowden told Times Radio: “We will be convening this morning a meeting of COBRA.
“We stand ready to evacuate British citizens once they have crossed to the other side of the border from Gaza as soon as it is safe to do so.
“We are urging those citizens to be in touch with the Foreign Office.
“We are in regular touch with them.
“As soon as it is safe to do so we will help facilitate their exit.”
Some British citizens are already waiting at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza in the hope of leaving the heavily bombed enclave.
Mr Dowden said the UK would also back more fuel being allowed into the strip to alleviate the growing humanitarian crisis.
Israel confirmed this morning that a raid, involving tanks and bulldozers, had been launched into Gaza ahead of a ground invasion.
Health chiefs in Gaza say more than 6,500 people have been killed in the enclave which has been struck with waves of Israeli air attacks since the October 7 Islamic State-style slaughter of more than 1,400 people in Israel by terror group Hamas.
The casualty figures from Gaza have not been confirmed independently but footage and photographs from the besieged strip make clear the high death toll and destruction.
Israel is coming under growing pressure to allow in more aid.
Mr Dowden said the length of a humanitarian "pause" in the Israel-Hamas war would "depend on the circumstances on the ground" for delivering aid into Gaza.
Asked how long the UK envisaged such a pause in the fighting could last, he explained: "It would be appropriate to the circumstances of getting that aid in.
"For example, if you think about the Rafah crossing taking aid from Egypt into Gaza, to enable that aid to be transferred safely into Gaza, it would depend on the circumstances on the ground.
"But that is certainly something that has been urged by our Prime Minister, and indeed the Defence Secretary discussed it with his Israeli opposite number just yesterday."
He said a pause would be "different to a ceasefire, which is a total cessation of hostilities, which I don't think recognises properly the situation that Israel finds itself in, in respect of this attack from Hamas which has to be dealt with by Israel".
The Deputy Prime Minister said Israel could not fight back against Hamas "without there being some civilian impact" in Gaza.
Asked on Sky News about the loss of life in Gaza, Oliver Dowden said: "I deplore and I'm heartbroken by every loss of innocent civilian life.
"But actually the way to stop further losses of innocent civilian lives is to remove the terrorist threat and to move to a position where we can restore stability and peace to this region."
He added: "You can't conduct a military offensive against an enemy that hides among the civilian population, that targets your country from among a civilian population without there being some civilian impact.
"But I believe that Israel is seeking to minimise those numbers and we continue to urge Israel to respect international law and minimise civilian casualties."
