Qatar: Israeli Strike

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Wednesday 10th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

The right hon. Gentleman raises an important question. The strength of our relationship with Qatar on conflict mediation and our own capabilities are an important area of work. I understand deeply how important that is because I was a negotiator in the Foreign Office, as was our National Security Adviser. I have been due a further discussion with my Qatari ministerial counterpart. Regrettably, it has been continually delayed by events in the region, but we hope to have it soon.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

Qatar is an ally, and a key negotiator and mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks. Through committing atrocities in Gaza, illegal settlements in the west bank, marching into Syria, and attacking Lebanon, Iran, Yemen and now Qatar, this Israeli Government have proven themselves to be a rogue ally to us and a dangerous neighbour. At what point does the UK draw a line in the sand and call out this Israeli Government for what they are—a danger to peace in the middle east?

[Mr Falconer]

I thank my hon. Friend for his long commitment to these issues. He has heard my condemnation, as well as that of the previous Foreign Secretary, the current Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister, of many of the Israeli Government’s actions in relation to Gaza, the west bank and elsewhere. Where we disagree with the Israeli Government, we are clear and forceful in saying so.

Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Wednesday 10th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Melanie Ward]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend, who does hugely important work on this topic. Journalists, aid workers and others being able to see and report on what is taking place is massively important, and there are undoubtedly horrific attempts to stop that. Bombing a hospital to kill a journalist is absolutely disgraceful.

There were 940 incidents of attacks on healthcare in Gaza in 2024, more than the total number of health attacks in Ukraine and Sudan put together for that same year. The corresponding figure for the west bank and East Jerusalem is 418 in one year.

I want to give an example of what we mean when we talk about aid workers being attacked. On 18 January 2024, an Israeli F-16 fired a 1,000-lb smart bomb that struck a Medical Aid for Palestinians and International Rescue Committee compound housing aid workers in Gaza’s supposed safe zone of al-Mawasi. It almost killed my then colleagues, including four British doctors. We had to evacuate the doctors, disrupting a lifesaving emergency medical programme, and Palestinian colleagues were traumatised and terrified.

The Israeli military knew who that compound belonged to. I know that because it was personally confirmed to me, as the then chief executive officer of Medical Aid for Palestinians, on 22 December 2023 by the British Embassy in Israel that the IDF knew of our location and had marked it as a humanitarian site. That should have protected us. The IDF knew, too, that our staff were there, having come back to rest from the hospital the previous evening, their movement having been logged properly through the supposed deconfliction system.

After bombing us, the Israeli regime provided six different explanations to the then US and UK Governments and to me for why they had bombed our compound. Those explanations, sometimes provided by and to the very highest levels of Government, ranged from the Israeli military being unaware of what had happened to denying involvement; accepting responsibility for the strike, which had been attempting to hit a target adjacent to our compound, despite the fact that the compound was not close to any other building, which was one of the reasons we selected it; accepting responsibility for the strike and asserting that it was a mistake caused by a defective tail fin on the missile that was fired; and accepting responsibility and advising that what hit the MAP-IRC compound was a piece of aircraft fuselage that had been discharged by the pilot of the Israeli fighter jet. The variety of responses was both farcical and frightening. I think it is reasonable to assume that someone cannot just get in an Israeli fighter jet, take it for a fly and fire at whatever they like. The targets, as we are often told, are very carefully selected.

I highlight, too, the targeted drone attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy—also in a supposedly deconflicted zone—that killed seven aid workers on 1 April last year, the week before I was last in Gaza. That concluded with a hurried internal Israeli investigation where no one was held accountable for murdering humanitarians. On 3 August, just last month, the Israeli military attacked the headquarters of the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza, killing one of its staff in a building that also was known to the Israelis and clearly marked. Their military told the BBC that they were “reviewing the claim” of the PRCS.

Evidence shows that United Nations Relief and Works Agency staff have been killed, faced abuse and been detained on a regular basis, and subjected to sleep deprivation, beatings and attacks by dogs. Time and again, the Israeli military attack aid workers then refuse to properly investigate what happened. The only conclusion we can reach is that they are doing this deliberately—these are war crimes.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a powerful case about the catalogue of atrocities being committed. In July, the Prime Minister announced that

“the UK will recognise the state of Palestine by the United Nations General Assembly in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza”.

Those steps have not been taken, and the situation has got worse; we saw what happened yesterday in Qatar. Does she agree that the UK must now recognise a Palestinian state as part of a broader push for peace and urgent humanitarian relief?

[Melanie Ward]

I absolutely agree that it is time to take the historic step of recognising a state of Palestine.

I have some questions for the Minister, but first I want to put one more thing on the record; it points to one of the reasons why the Israeli Government do not want people to see what is taking place. An aid worker who I know very well—a very experienced aid worker in Gaza—told me about a situation that he witnessed in the north of Gaza, in Gaza City, after an Israeli siege of the main hospital there. After the siege, he was one of the first people to enter the compound of the hospital. He told me that what they saw were the remains of many half-buried bodies. In all but one case, it was impossible even to identify the sex of the dead body. The only person they could identify was an old man who had his wrists bound.

This aid worker told me, too, that there was a huge pile of clothes in the compound of the hospital and that when the aid workers entered the compound, many of the people who lived around about the hospital came in and began sifting through the pile of clothes. Because they could not identify the bodies of any of the dead people, the relatives were looking through the pile of clothes to see whether they could identify any of the clothes that had belonged to their loved ones, which would mean their loved ones might be among the dead. This is why we need proper justice, investigations and accountability for what is happening in Gaza.

Does the Minister agree that it is time for an independent investigation into these incidents and others like them? Will the Government support full accountability for these and other war crimes against aid workers, and will he personally take up the case of the MAP-IRC compound bombing with the Israeli Government? Can he share what the Government have done to stop the new restrictions on aid agencies? Will the Government make it clear to Israel that if it proceeds and aid agencies are denied access, it will pay a price for doing this?

Finally, I know that the Minister will not commit to this today, but will he agree to go away and examine expanding the UK sanctions regime to cover all those involved in violations of IHL? The Government have rightly sanctioned violent settlers in the west bank, but they should also target those instructing the blockade of aid and involved in the targeting of aid workers in Gaza, for example. Will the Minister agree to look into that and write to me about it?

What happens in Gaza does not stay in Gaza. In June, a British aid worker was killed in a drone strike in Ukraine. In Sudan, refugee camps are being continuously targeted, with children and aid workers being killed. Only 10 days ago, the Houthis in Yemen arrested 19 UN staff, adding to dozens of UN staff already arbitrarily detained since 2024. Last year was the worst year on record for attacks on healthcare, and this trend is worsening. Such attacks violate international law, and the more they are allowed to continue with impunity, the more they incentivise malign actors in other conflicts to do the same. Accountability is essential.

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 20th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

UK bilateral recognition is the single most important action that the United Kingdom can take with regard to Palestinian statehood, which is why it is important for us to get the timing right and to work with partners as we consider the issues very closely. I have talked about the international conference in June on the implementation of the two-state solution, which we will of course be attending; we are talking with our partners about it and they will have heard what the hon. Gentleman has said.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement, and last night’s collective statement. However, repeated strong words without action now ring hollow. Netanyahu’s Government continue with the starvation and killing of innocent Palestinians. Suspending trade negotiations and other steps that the Foreign Secretary has announced today will not stop the killing of innocent Palestinians, because we are dealing with an extremist right-wing Netanyahu Government. Concrete steps to uphold our humanitarian commitments are overdue, so when will the Foreign Secretary impose a full arms embargo on Israel and recognise Palestine?

[Mr Lammy]

We have imposed a ban on arms sales for use in Gaza—we did that in September. I know that my hon. Friend’s constituents will care a lot about the war in Ukraine and other conflicts across the world, and therefore he will recognise the decision that we have made, particularly about the F-35 supply chain. The whole House will have heard his points on recognition.

Gaza: UK Assessment

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

These responsibilities weigh heavily on me and on every member of the Government and the Foreign Office team. But let us not forget what this Government have done. Whether it is restoring funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency; suspending arms exports in the way we have described; providing £129 million of humanitarian aid and then being one of the loudest voices in trying to ensure that it enters Gaza; or working with Jordan to fly medicines into Gaza, with Egypt to treat medically evacuated civilians, with Project Pure Hope to help Gazan children in the UK, and with Kuwait to support vulnerable children through UNICEF; we are taking steps. We take the judgments of the ICJ incredibly seriously, but I cannot pretend to the House that the events in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of recent days are acceptable, and we will continue to take every step we can to get a change of course.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

Tomorrow is the 77th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, which saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes. That still continues today, and the UN Security Council has said that action is now required to prevent genocide. A key step to a peaceful two-state solution would be recognising Palestinian statehood—something that Israel is trying to prevent. With 147 countries recognising Palestinian statehood, is now not the right time for the UK to do so, too?

[Mr Falconer]

The question of recognition of a Palestinian state is obviously one of vital importance. We want to do so as a contribution to a more stable region. We can see the serious and immediate threats to the viability of Palestinian life, and that is what we are focused on in these most urgent of days.

Middle East Update

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 6th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I will not rehearse the points I have already made about the determination of genocide and about recognition.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

The evacuation orders of the Israeli forces have resulted in the forcible transfer of Palestinians in Gaza into ever-shrinking spaces, where they have little or no access to lifesaving services and continue to be subjected to attacks. What steps will the Government take to put pressure on Israel to ensure it does not go ahead with its plans to move Gaza’s population? Do the Government agree that the plans constitute forced displacement, which is a war crime?

[Mr Falconer]

As I have said, we are clear on the status of forced displacement under international law. My hon. Friend’s contribution is very important. I know many hon. Members are conscious of the multiple displacements of many Palestinians in Gaza, who have been displaced not once or twice, but in many cases more than three times. The treatment of Palestinian civilians who are just trying to live is terrible, and I share the feelings of the House about that.

Kashmir: Increasing Tension

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

We are encouraging direct lines of communication, and we are of course encouraging Pakistan to provide all possible assistance with the investigation of these horrific crimes.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

May I associate myself with the comments of the Minister and other Members who have condemned the killing of 26 innocent people?

Given that tensions between India and Pakistan are running high and resulting in arrests, does the Minister agree with me, and with others who have raised the point, that we must not let this issue boil over into our streets? If anything, we should be working to convey a message of peace and hope to that part of the world. In the light of the tit-for-tat actions being undertaken by Pakistan and India, does the Minister also agree that we need to encourage the holding of an open, independent inquiry to establish the facts, ensure accountability and help to restore calm? That would be far better for the world than India and Pakistan—nuclear powers—going to war.

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend is, of course right: peace and calm are vital for communities here and across the world. The two states are talking to each other, which is welcome. India’s concerns for its own security are understandable in the light of such a horrific incident. It is clearly taking steps to try to establish the facts as best it can, and it will have British support to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 25th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

16. What steps his Department is taking to support people affected by the humanitarian situation in Sudan.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

21. What steps his Department is taking to help tackle food insecurity in Sudan.

[The Minister for Development (Anneliese Dodds)]

We remain desperately concerned about the humanitarian situation in Sudan. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has set out the measures taken by the UK to seek to ameliorate that appalling disaster, included a doubling of aid to Sudan.

--- Later in debate ---

[Anneliese Dodds]

The hon. Member is right to raise the disturbing accounts of atrocities that we have heard. She will be pleased to know that the UK led efforts to renew the UN Human Rights Council fact-finding mission mandate last October, and I was very pleased to see additional African countries coming on board with that. We have doubled our aid to Sudan, so that commitment is not in doubt.

[Afzal Khan]

I welcome the Government pushing a ceasefire in Sudan and doubling aid. Sudan’s civil war, now in its third year, has triggered one of the worst humanitarian crises of the decade, with 5.1 million internally displaced people and 1.3 million refugees since April 2023, and famine is now looming. Given this, will the Minister outline what urgent steps the Government are taking with their international counterparts to help de-escalate the conflict in Sudan?

[Anneliese Dodds]

Ending the conflict in Sudan, and the appalling consequences of it, is a UK priority. Both the Foreign Secretary and I have visited the region, including Chad and South Sudan. We have increased aid, and we have been determined to increase international attention. That includes the April conference to which the Foreign Secretary referred, but I also convened Development Ministers from a number of countries a few days ago, with the emergency relief co-ordinator, to try to pile on the pressure.

Northern Gaza

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

The Prime Minister was the first Prime Minister to meet the Commissioner-General of UNRWA. He did so in a week when we had announced further funding for UNRWA. We have raised those vital questions with the Israeli Government. We did so over the course of the break. I myself have met Commissioner-General Lazzarini, and I will be saying more about UNRWA in the coming weeks if we are not in a position to see that the Israelis have taken the action necessary to ensure the sustained and continued support that Palestinians require and which only UNRWA can provide.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

Not one single hospital now operates in northern Gaza. Healthcare staff continue to be targeted, resulting in the death of even more innocent civilians. We have heard the Minister, but surely what we are doing is not enough. What can we do to stop the systemic dismantling of the hospitals in Gaza?

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend is right that what we have done is not enough, and we know it is not enough because the provision is so poor in northern Gaza. We are distressed by the scenes in northern Gaza and by the circumstances that hon. Members have described. We will continue to work as hard as we can, both in relation to UNRWA and directly with the Israeli Government, to try to ensure that the aid provision, including medical provision, is provided with urgency. The current situation is not good enough.

Israel and Palestine

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Monday 16th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

In July, this Government called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, but Netanyahu and his Government refused to listen. The only way we can ensure a permanent end to the cycle of violence is by facilitating the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel, so does the hon. Member agree that it is time for the UK to join the 146 UN member states that recognise the state of Palestine, and that it should do so as a matter of urgency?

[Dr Savage]

I will come to that point shortly.

The conflict has expanded beyond Gaza’s borders. I am sure that we all welcomed the recent ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, which faced a humanitarian crisis of its own. But it is not just in Lebanon; across the whole middle east, from Iran to Yemen, and of course most recently in Syria, we have seen the ramifications of this conflict.

The first petition calls for the immediate recognition of Palestine as a state. It received 283,669 signatures and was started by Sandra Downs, who is in the Public Gallery. I thank Sandra for her time last week, when she met me to discuss her petition.

Israel-Gaza Conflict: Arrest Warrants

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Monday 25th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Hamish Falconer]

This is described in international law as the question of complementarity, and it was considered by the pre-trial chamber. Given the independence of the ICC, I do not think it appropriate for me to offer further commentary. Arguments were made by various states on this matter, and the pre-trial chamber came to its findings.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that as well as demanding an immediate ceasefire, the freeing of all hostages and unhindered aid getting into Gaza, we must ensure that the perpetrators of heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity, whether they are friend or foe, are held to account under international law based on justice that is blind, objective and impartial? Playing politics with courts undermines justice.

[Hamish Falconer]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Support for international criminal justice and accountability has traditionally been a matter on which we have had widespread support in this House. It will continue to be a priority for the British Government.