Oral Answers to Questions

Rosena Allin-Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 21st April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

No one should be building illegal settlements on the west bank. It is essential that everyone abides by international law. We would expect any organisation in the UK and people living in the UK to abide by international law. We maintain our position that these settlements are illegal under international law.

[Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Tooting) (Lab)]

The brutal suffering of Palestinians on the west bank remains unchallenged, and the Norwegian Refugee Council has now exposed that depraved sexual violence by Israeli soldiers and settlers is rampant against Palestinian women and girls. That is abhorrent. Will the Foreign Secretary tell us what she is doing to take a firm stand against this cruelty, and will she commit to holding Israel to account for its heinous crimes against innocent Palestinians?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend has raised with me the Norwegian Refugee Council report, and crimes around violence against women and girls. We have made tackling violence against women and girls, including those in conflict, a priority for the Foreign Office. We will take the matter immensely seriously. It is a crime, and the use of this violence as a weapon of war, which we have seen in conflicts across the world, is horrendous. We will continue to pursue the issue.