Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent estimate she has made of the number of humanitarian and development items that have been delayed in entering or denied entry to Gaza by the Israeli authorities in the last 12 months.

The Department is aware of delays and denials of entry of items into Gaza. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is not currently consolidating data on these delays. We have requested UN OCHA to establish a mechanism for the collection of this data. DFID enables reconstruction efforts in Gaza through our support to the Materials Monitoring Unit of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism to monitor the import, storage, supply and use of construction materials. We welcome recent Israeli announcements to ease restrictions on the importation of material into Gaza for much needed infrastructure projects such as the proposed Central Gaza Desalination Plant and other waste water plants under construction, which many international donors are supporting.