I welcome the Minister back to the Department in his new post. Of course, the Defence Secretary should be here; he has made only one oral statement on the middle east in more than two months.
As the Minister said, our UK armed forces are reinforcing regional stability, protecting international shipping, defending partner countries and delivering desperately needed aid to Gaza. We are proud of their professionalism, and across the House we pay tribute to their work, but the agonies of the Palestinians in Gaza are extreme. Children are starving, families are dying, and famine and disease are taking hold. Humanitarian help must flood into Palestinian hands, so we welcomed the ninth RAF airdrop last week, but why has there been only one sea shipment of UK aid in more than six months, and none this year? What are the Government doing to open up Ashdod port?
We welcome the new role for RFA Cardigan Bay in helping to build the temporary pier. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is demonstrating that it provides vital naval support. Is it protected from new civil service cuts? Have Ministers resolved the issue of the potential strike action? What is the Defence Secretary doing to raise rock-bottom morale in the RFA? Weekend reports suggest that UK troops could be deployed to deliver aid on the ground in Gaza. Will the Minister confirm those plans? How will the Defence Secretary report to the House, and ensure that Parliament has a say, on any such deployment?
The Defence Secretary seems to be doing the bare minimum on the diplomatic front. Why has he made only one visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 7 October? We need an immediate ceasefire now, hostages released now, and unimpeded aid now. We need a political route to securing a long-term two-state settlement. Where the Government pursue these aims, they will have Labour’s fullest support.
Please follow link above for the rest of the exchange
Question
To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they intend to call for an immediate independent investigation into the killing of 150 staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East since 7 October and suspend all trade with Israel until that investigation is complete.
Answer
Answered on
14 February 2024
The safety of humanitarian personnel and healthcare workers in Gaza is critical to enable aid to reach those who need it most. We regularly review advice about Israel’s capability and commitment to International Humanitarian Law and we act in accordance with that advice. The Foreign Secretary underlined the need for Israel to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of aid and medical personnel, as well as that of medical facilities, during his visit to Israel on 24 January. Israel must ensure effective deconfliction in Gaza, ensure there are effective systems to guarantee the safety of aid convoys and humanitarian operations, and ensure the UN has the people, vehicles, equipment and fuel to distribute aid safely across Gaza.
Question
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to monitor Israel’s compliance with the interim ruling of the International Court of Justice regarding its conduct in the conflict in Gaza.
Answer
Answered on
19 February 2024
We respect the role and independence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas in line with International Humanitarian Law, as we have said from the outset. We have long advocated for the release of hostages and the need to get more aid in. We are clear that an immediate pause is necessary to get aid in and hostages out, and then we want to build towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to the fighting.
Question
To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they will review their policy regarding the export of arms to Israel in light of the International Court of Justice’s interim ruling regarding the conflict in Gaza.
Answer
Answered on
19 February 2024
We regularly review advice about Israel’s capability and commitment to International Humanitarian Law, and act in accordance with that advice, for example when considering export licences. We support Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself and take action against terrorism, within the bounds of International Humanitarian Law.
We respect the role and independence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). However, we have stated that we have considerable concerns about this case, which is not helpful in the goal of achieving a sustainable ceasefire.
Question
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the consistency of (a) the decision to pause future funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and (b) paragraph 86(4) of the International Court of Justice’s Order relating to the case of the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v Israel), published on 26 January 2024.
Answer
Answered on 6 February 2024
We are appalled by allegations that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned. The UK is pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations.
However, we remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it, and our decision to pause future funding to UNRWA has no impact on the UK’s contribution to the humanitarian response. Our commitment to trebling aid to Gaza still stands, and we are getting on with aid delivery through funding multiple implementing partners including other UN agencies and international and UK NGOs. This support is helping people in Gaza get food, water, shelter and medicines.
We are also clear that an immediate pause is necessary to get aid in and hostages out, and then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.
Mark Hendrick Labour/Co-operative, Preston
UIN 11961, tabled on 30 January 2024
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-30/11961#
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his counterpart in Israel on the potential merits of creating a two-state solution with Palestine.
Andrew Mitchell Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development), Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development and Africa)
We want to see an end to the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible and are calling for an immediate pause to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life. These are the vital steps:
A political horizon which provides a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.
The formation of a new Palestinian Government for the West Bank and Gaza, accompanied by an international support package.
Removing Hamas’s capacity to launch attacks against Israel.
The release of all Israeli hostages.
Hamas no longer in charge of Gaza.
The Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister have reiterated these messages in their contacts with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli political leaders, including during the Foreign Secretary’s visit to Israel on 24 January.
We support a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and Palestinian people.
Question
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what progress his Department has made on the provision of (a) food, (b) water, (c) electricity, (d) medicine, (e) fuel and (f) other aid to Gaza.
Answer
Answered on 16 January 2024
Getting significantly more aid into Gaza is a clear priority. The Foreign Secretary has appointed a senior official, Mark Bryson-Richardson, as his Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to help drive forward this vital work.
The UK is providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance and has already delivered 74 tonnes of aid to Gaza. Earlier this month, a further 82 tonnes of life-saving UK aid arrived in Egypt onboard RFA Lyme Bay. UK funding supports the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other trusted partners to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza. We continue to urge Israel to increase the flow of aid into Gaza and continue to reiterate the urgent need for more humanitarian pauses. We are exploring all methods of delivering humanitarian assistance to Gaza to expand both the capacity and volume of aid arriving in Gaza.
Question
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answers of 24 November 2023 and 11 December 2023 to Questions 2123 and 4902 on Gaza: Humanitarian Aid, for what reasons the daily average of 500 truckloads of humanitarian…
Answer
Answered on
12 January 2024
Getting significantly more aid into Gaza is a priority. Constraints to the number of trucks entering on a daily basis, include enhanced screening requirements, limited points of entry and insufficient functioning trucks and fuel within Gaza to handle the volume of assistance needed. The Foreign Secretary has recently appointed a Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and who will actively engage with international partners and those operating on the ground to help unblock bottlenecks to delivery.
Question
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his Israeli counterpart on allegations that Israeli forces delayed a UN convoy that was evacuating patients from Al Ahli hospital on 9 December 2023.
Answer
Answered on
12 January 2024
The UK is clear that the wounded and critically ill in Gaza should be able to access the urgent medical care they need, that the safety of humanitarian personnel and healthcare workers in Gaza is critical to enable aid to reach those who need it most. We also want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians and destroying homes. The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary continue to make this clear in engagements with their Israeli counterparts. The UK is focussed on alleviating the desperate humanitarian situation and the UK played a leading role in securing the passage of Security Council Resolution 2720, which underlined the urgent demand for expanded humanitarian access.
Question
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will apply Magnitsky-style sanctions to Israel’s (a) Minister of National Security and (b) Finance Minister in the context of settler violence in the West Bank.
Answer
Answered on
8 January 2024
Tensions in the West Bank must ease and we continue to urge Israel to address extremist settler violence. This includes preventing such acts of violence, and holding those responsible to account. The Foreign Secretary has announced that we will ban those responsible for settler violence from entering the UK. We keep our sanctions under review and reserve the right to introduce further measures.