Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the killing of Muhammad al-Araja at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza on 16 February 2024.

We are aware of these reports.

We continue to call for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to be respected and civilians to be protected. Too many civilians have been killed.

Palestinian civilians are facing a devastating and growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

We are calling for an immediate pause to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.

Vital steps include the release of all hostages; the formation of a new Palestinian Government for the West Bank and Gaza, accompanied by an international support package; removing Hamas's capacity to launch attacks against Israel; Hamas no longer being in charge of Gaza; and a political horizon which provides a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.