To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to his Israeli counterpart on ending the siege conditions on Gaza.
Answered on
21 November 2023
As of 14 November, the United Nations assesses that 2.3 million people in Gaza need access to safe drinking water and food. Current supplies are running out, one third of hospitals have been forced to shut down, and around 1.6 million people are displaced. The UK Government has already announced £30 million in humanitarian funding and has sent more than 51 tonnes of emergency relief for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This funding will support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in responding to critical food, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza. FCDO Ministers and officials are working regularly and closely with our Israeli counterparts to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza, and to advocate for adherence to International Humanitarian Law, for access routes to be established into Gaza, for sufficient levels of humanitarian assistance to flow into Gaza and for humanitarian pauses to allow aid to be safely distributed within Gaza.