Extracts from Business
Questions
(Glasgow North) (SNP): Lots
of us, myself included, have constituents who are worried sick
about their friends or family who are caught up in the conflict
in Gaza. Can a Minister come to the House urgently for a debate
or statement on the need for a more widely drawn family reunion
or humanitarian visa process for people who are fleeing the
violence in Israel and
Gaza?
The Leader of the House of Commons (): I thank the hon. Gentleman
for his question. I hope he is in touch with the Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office’s consular services, which
are working very hard with other Government Departments to ensure
that anyone who needs assistance has it. If the hon. Gentleman
has any difficulty in accessing those services, my office will
assist.
Sir (Northampton North) (Con):
All loss of life in conflict in Israel
Gaza or elsewhere is a tragedy. It is very important that the UK
Government are working with the right figures, for aid purposes
and many other reasons. On that point, has my right hon. Friend
seen that a leading academic statistician from the Wharton School
of the University of Pennsylvania has calculated that the Hamas
casualty figures are statistically impossible and obviously
fraudulent? That should not be a surprise, coming from a
terrorist organisation, but Government and Opposition Front
Benchers seem to be relying on them. Can we have a debate in
those circumstances on the accuracy of statistics used by His
Majesty’s Government?
: My right hon. and learned
Friend raises an important point. He should be reassured that
those figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which is run
by Hamas, are only one data point that we use to assess the scale
of the conflict and its implications for civilians. We need to
ensure that we have the most accurate data, and we are collecting
that from satellite imagery of building damage, information from
our humanitarian partners on the ground and robust data on living
conditions. Those are all fed into our assessment. It is a
tragedy that is unfolding, and that is why we want to see a pause
in fighting to get that aid in and to get hostages out.
Lords repeat of Commons
Urgent Question on Israel and Gaza
The following Answer to an Urgent Question was given in the House
of Commons on Tuesday 19 March.
Israel suffered the
worst terrorist attack in its history on 7 October last year. The
scenes that we saw on that day were appalling, and Hamas’s
disregard for civilian welfare continues today, more than five
months later. We remember all the time those who are still being
held hostage and their families, and we call once again for their
immediate release. However, we naturally remain deeply concerned
about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the impact of the
conflict on all Palestinian civilians. We have borne witness to
death and displacement on a vast scale. More than 1.7 million
people have had to leave their home, many on multiple occasions.
We are deeply concerned about the growing risk of famine,
exacerbated by the spread of disease, and, of course, about the
terrible psychosocial impacts of the conflict, which will be felt
for years to come.
We are totally committed to getting humanitarian aid to all those
people in Gaza who desperately need it, doing so either ourselves
or through UN agencies and British or other charities. We and our
partners are pushing to get aid in through all feasible means, by
land, sea and air. We have trebled our aid funding to the
Occupied Palestinian Territories this year, providing just under
£100 million, of which £70 million has been delivered as
humanitarian assistance. On 13 March a further 150 tonnes of UK
aid arrived in Gaza, including 840 family tents, 13,440 blankets,
nearly 3,000 shelter kits and shelter fixing kits, 6,000 sleeping
mats, and more than 3,000 dignity kits. A field hospital,
provided through UK aid funding to UK-Med, arrived in Gaza from
Manchester last Friday. This facility, staffed by UK and local
medics, will be able to treat more than 100 patients a day. Along
with Cyprus, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and
others, Britain will help to deliver humanitarian aid by sea to a
new temporary US military pier in Gaza via a maritime corridor
from Cyprus.
We have made it clear, however, that air and sea deliveries
cannot be a substitute for the delivery of aid through land
routes. Only through those routes can the demand for the volume
of aid that is now required be met. We continue to
press Israel to open more
land crossings for longer, and with fewer screening requirements.
There is no doubt that land crossings are the most effective
means of getting aid into Gaza, and Israel must do more.
There is also no doubt that the best way to bring an end to the
suffering is to agree an immediate humanitarian pause, and
progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire without a
return to destruction, fighting and loss of life. Reaching that
outcome is the focus of all our diplomatic efforts right now, and
a goal that is shared by our international partners. We urge all
sides to seize the opportunity, and continue negotiations to
reach an agreement as soon as possible”.
11.58am
(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister has told the House that the United Kingdom
has stressed to the Israeli Government the importance of
complying with the ICJ decision on provisional measures, making
the point that it is central to the issue of humanitarian aid.
Both the Minister and the Foreign Secretary have also stressed
the importance of UNRWA in distributing aid, so why have we not
accepted the recommendation of the OIOS inquiry’s interim report
to recommence payments to ensure that the aid, which is
increasing, is properly distributed? What are we doing to speed
up the broader review of UNRWA’s activities and neutrality by
Catherine Colonna? It would be good to hear that we are actively
engaged in that, to ensure that we can get into Gaza the aid that
is so desperately needed.
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Office () (Con)
My Lords, I am sure I speak for everyone in your Lordships’ House
when I say that, following the 7 October attacks, we were all
shocked and appalled by the allegations that UNRWA staff were
involved in those attacks. Like many other countries—the US,
Germany, Italy, Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands—we
suspended funding. However, the noble Lord is right to raise the
importance of the reports. We have spoken repeatedly—as has my
noble friend—about the important role that UNRWA has played in
providing aid and services. We have continued our support through
other agencies, and the Foreign Secretary and I have been
advocating very strongly for the opening up of new land access
points to Gaza, which is showing progress. For example, we saw
185 trucks get through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
On the two reports, I can assure the noble Lord that the UK is
fully engaged, primarily through our excellent ambassador at the
UN, Dame . There is a briefing for
UN Security Council Permanent Representatives on the interim
findings of Catherine Colonna’s report at 8.30 New York time
today. We are following this very closely, but there are
important measures and mitigations that need to be put in place.
While we recognise the important role of UNRWA, we must ensure
that any resumption of new funding to UNRWA from the United
Kingdom is based on those mitigations being in place.
(LD)
My Lords, the Minister is aware that I asked the Foreign
Secretary last week about concerns over potential breaches of
international humanitarian law. The Department for Business and
Trade instigated a change of circumstances review for export
licences for military equipment in December, and the significance
of the concerns has only grown since then. Can the Minister
confirm that this is probably the appropriate time for that
review to err on the side of caution and for the UK to follow
Canada in pausing the export licences for military equipment to
the Government of Israel
Secondly, given the concerns about two of the Ministers within
the Netanyahu coalition—Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, against whom these
Benches have called for actions to be taken—can the Minister
update the House on discussions between the UK Government and the
Israeli Government on a free trade agreement? Does he agree that
it is probably not appropriate to continue discussions about a
free trade agreement with those two Ministers at this time?
(Con)
My Lords, the noble Lord will be fully aware that, as the
Minister responsible, I called out the statements made by the two
Ministers he named as inflammatory and not reflective of a
majority of progressively minded and right-minded people and
citizens of Israel across all
communities who do not adhere to the statements made by those
Ministers; we have rejected those words. The more substantive
issue of IHL is important; we regularly review our assessment and
we have previously assessed that Israel is
complying with IHL. The noble Lord will have heard the words of
my noble friend the Foreign Secretary about the importance of
this and, while we will not give a running commentary, we have to
go through specific processes in this regard, and I assure him
that we are seized of this.
(CB)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the support that he, the
Foreign Secretary and the Government have given to the families
of the hostages in Gaza. Will he please reconfirm that the
Government are doing all they can to release these unfortunate
people? Can he also make special efforts to try to secure the
release of the remains of those hostages who have died in Gaza so
that their families can give them a decent burial?
(Con)
My Lords, I can give the noble Lord both those assurances. This
week my noble friend the Foreign Secretary has spoken directly to
hostage families. I also met, for a second time, one of the
mothers of the hostage families; he is not in his place, but I am
grateful to the noble Lord, , for arranging that. It is
important, and I assure the noble Lord and your Lordships’ House
that this is a key priority. That is why we need the fighting to
stop now so that we can get the hostages returned and aid in. To
his point on remains, I remember a very poignant meeting,
together with my right honourable friend the Prime Minister, at
which one of the relatives looked at me quite directly and said
that irrespective of our faiths—I speak as a Muslim and she was
of the Jewish faith—we all recognise the importance of closure,
and we need to bring closure to the families of those tragically
killed.
(Con)
My Lords, will my noble friend impress on his counterparts in the
Israeli Government that, difficult though the two-state, or
confederal, solution may be, it is by far the least bad of those
that are available—not least because if the political aspirations
of the Palestinian people are not met by such an approach, there
will be no lasting peace?
(Con)
I totally agree with my noble friend, and that is why we have
impressed, and my noble friend the Foreign Secretary has made
clear, that a key component of the key deliverables for a
sustainable peace is a political horizon towards the two-state
solution, which includes—as the Saudi Foreign Minister rightly
said—irreversible steps to that solution. There is a real
willingness and recognition of the need—I know that many in your
Lordships’ House who know the Palestinians and Israelis would
agree—to ensure security, stability and peace between both
peoples, and that can be delivered only through a viable
two-state solution.
(Lab)
My Lords, I return to the funding of UNRWA. I found the
Minister’s response to my noble friend Lord Collins a little
disappointing, given the concern that he and the Foreign
Secretary have justifiably expressed about the urgency of getting
humanitarian aid into Gaza and distributing it. Is he aware of
just how much experience and expertise UNRWA has in this—far
greater than any other group he could name? There are UNRWA
people on the ground who can do the distribution. Is he also
aware that our allies, Canada, Spain and others, who suspended
funding to UNRWA have now restored it? What is preventing the UK
Government restoring it and consistently pushing policies that
will do something about the humanitarian disaster in Gaza?
(Con)
My Lords, I assure the noble Baroness that we are fully seized of
our engagement with UNRWA. I have spoken several times to
Philippe Lazzarini, the director of UNRWA, as has the Development
Minister, and we will continue to engage directly on the
importance of mitigations, as I outlined to the noble Lord, Lord
Collins. I fully agree with the noble Baroness—I said it again
today—about the important role that UNRWA has played; I have said
from the Dispatch Box that it has been the backbone of the
humanitarian operation in Gaza and continues to provide important
support.
I will make two points, though. We have not suspended
humanitarian support in Gaza: additional money, now more than
£100 million, continues to flow in. We have delivered over land,
and the noble Baroness will know that we have also delivered
through air and maritime routes. But we have been pressing the
Israeli Government, with a degree of success and through working
with the World Food Programme, for example, to ensure that aid is
delivered, and we are working with other key partners on that.
The important thing, as the UN and the Secretary-General
recognise, is that those concerns, raised by the United Kingdom
and others, allow UNRWA to move forward in a progressive way,
with those important mitigations in place so that this chapter
cannot be repeated.
(CB)
My Lords, the Minister helpfully referred to the report being
made to the Security Council today by the Secretary-General’s
representative, Catherine Colonna. Will he share the report with
Members of the House, perhaps in writing, when it becomes
available to him? Given the imminence of the Easter Recess, will
he tell the House before we go into recess what the Government’s
response to that report is?
(Con)
As the noble Lord will know from his own time as an ambassador to
the UN, the report being shared today is an interim report by the
former Foreign Minister of France, Catherine Colonna. It is a UN
product. Ultimately, as she has said, it is a report to the
Secretary-General, and how its details are shared and briefed
will be a matter for the Secretary-General.
