Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help make the water pipeline from Israel into northern Gaza operational.

The UK has raised the issue of access to water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories with the Israeli authorities. The Foreign Secretary has been clear that Israel must take steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid into Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses, opening more routes into Gaza and restoring and sustaining water, fuel and electricity. The Prime Minister pressed the urgency of getting significantly more aid into Gaza to alleviate the desperate situation in his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 15 February.