Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access Debate
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Matt Western
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Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access
Matt Western Excerpts(1 day, 17 hours ago)
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Melanie Ward
My hon. Friend knows exactly what she is talking about. I agree completely, and I ask her to convey our solidarity to the Palestine director of the World Food Programme when they meet shortly.
To state the obvious: to alleviate the suffering of a population in humanitarian need, aid workers need to be able to reach them. Too often across the world today we see aid workers being restricted from reaching people in need, something that is in violation of the laws of war. Gaza is ground zero for that.
We are all familiar with the barriers that Israel has put in place to stop aid entering Gaza. Indeed, the shadow Foreign Secretary, the right hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel), has said that creative solutions, such as floating piers, are needed to get aid into Gaza. We also know that aid drops are deeply flawed. However, the solution to getting aid into Gaza is simple—Israel must open the gates and let it in.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
On that point, it is quite clear, as we have seen, that the number of deaths we have seen at the food distribution centres run by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation—something like 3% of the total number of deaths—is an outrage. Does my hon. Friend agree that restoring an orderly supply of humanitarian aid is critical?
Melanie Ward
My hon. Friend is absolutely right; I will come on to say more about that issue.