Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the number of humanitarian personnel prevented by Israel from entering or exiting Gaza in 2019; what assessment she has made of the effect of such barriers on the effectiveness of humanitarian programmes inside Gaza.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK remains deeply concerned about the restrictions on movement and access that affect Gaza. The inability to enter or exit the strip impacts the delivery of vital humanitarian services and limits the professional development of health and humanitarian workers.
DFID is providing £1.3 million (2018-21) to support the UN’s Access Coordination Unit (ACU), which works to ensure humanitarian access to Gaza for UN and NGO workers by intervening when travel permits issued by Israel are delayed. The ACU has been instrumental in facilitating access, with more than 3,200 humanitarian personnel receiving assistance between October 2019 and March 2020. We continue to monitor the situation and regularly raise our concerns with the Israeli government.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of denials of permits to exit Gaza on the ability of Palestinian health workers to access training and professional development.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK remains deeply concerned about the restrictions on movement and access that affect Gaza. The inability to enter or exit the strip impacts the delivery of vital humanitarian services and limits the professional development of health and humanitarian workers.
DFID is providing £1.3 million (2018-21) to support the UN’s Access Coordination Unit (ACU), which works to ensure humanitarian access to Gaza for UN and NGO workers by intervening when travel permits issued by Israel are delayed. The ACU has been instrumental in facilitating access, with more than 3,200 humanitarian personnel receiving assistance between October 2019 and March 2020. We continue to monitor the situation and regularly raise our concerns with the Israeli government.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 29 April 2019 to Question 247112 on Gaza: Non-governmental Organisations, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Government’s support of the UN Access Coordination Unit in helping that organisation to achieve its objective of facilitating humanitarian access for UN and NGO workers to and from Gaza.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK supports the UN’s Access Coordination Unit (ACU), which works to ensure humanitarian access to Gaza for UN and NGO workers by intervening when Israeli travel permits are delayed. We assess that the ACU has been instrumental in facilitating such access, with more than 1500 humanitarian personnel receiving assistance between April 2019 and September 2019.