Gaza: Humanitarian Aid

Lord Purvis of Tweed Excerpts

Wednesday 4th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Our first priority, as I have made very clear, is to get food to the people who are starving. The noble Lord is right that that is not being helped by the inability of journalists to report accurately what is happening in Gaza. I do not know the precise reasons the Israeli Government have for not permitting journalists to do their job. I know that there are journalists who, despite the undoubtedly enormous risk to themselves, would be willing to undertake that task. It would be far preferable for us to have accurate reporting.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, the unconscionable humanitarian crisis has been compounded by the deadly weaponisation of aid delivery. Does the Minister agree with me that the UK should argue that the use of mercenaries in the distribution of aid should be halted immediately and that there should be designated humanitarian corridors involving Palestinian Authority civilian police, which the UK has trained? They need to be put in place this week, literally to save lives.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

My Lords, there are trucks of aid and professionals with the ability to get that aid where it needs to go, without the use of violence and at speed. Whether or not that is done through corridors, as the noble Lord suggested, I would leave to the judgment of those people on the ground, whom I have met; they are able to do that task and to do it very quickly. He is absolutely right that what is happening now is unconscionable and is failing. It is leading to a huge amount of distress and will lead, unless something is done quickly, to further death. All we can do is make our position clear, publicly and privately, to the Israeli Government. They have made a choice about this: this is not a natural disaster; this is a decision being made to prevent the adequate distribution of aid. We disagree with it, and we believe that the position should change.