Asked by: Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of reports that hospitals in northern Israel have spent $10 million treating wounded Syrians; and how many of these were combatants.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are aware of patients from Syria being treated in Israeli hospitals. We have not made any assessment of how many of those being treated were combatants.
Asked by: Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment have they made of recent reports that Hamas intends to use building materials to rebuild tunnels to attack Israel.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK has recently invested £0.5m in the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM), specifically a Materials Monitoring Unit, to ensure that any reconstruction materials made available to Gazans to repair their homes are closely tied to an assessment of needs and subjected to rigorous spot checks. This will safeguard against the risk of building materials being diverted towards building tunnels.