Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 403 on Gaza: Humanitarian Aid, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of aid supplies to the Gaza strip; and what recent steps he has taken to support (a) Islamic Relief, (b) the Egyptian Red Crescent and (c) other aid agencies to deliver aid.
Palestinians are facing a devastating and growing humanitarian crisis. We trebled our aid commitment this financial year and we are doing everything we can to get more aid in as quickly as possible by land, sea and air.
We need a humanitarian pause now to allow humanitarian actors and Gazans to operate and move safely, and enable hostages to be released.
We are also calling on Israel to increase access for aid through land routes and fully open Ashdod Port, scale up the Jordan corridor to the 500 trucks a week with a streamlined screening and delivery process, open a crossing in northern Gaza (Karni, Erez or a new crossing point), and increase screening capacity at Kerem Shalom and Nitzana to seven days a week and extended hours.
In addition, we want to see an expansion of the types of aid allowed into Gaza and Israel authorise at least 200,000 litres of fuel per day, as well as the provision of electricity, water and telecommunications, to both the north and the south of Gaza.
On 13 March the Foreign Secretary announced an additional £10 million to bring UK support to more than £100million this financial year. UK funding has supported the work of partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF and Egyptian Red Crescent Society. On 20 March the Foreign Secretary also announced that more than 2,000 tonnes of UK-funded food aid will be distributed by the World Food Programme. This will be the largest UK aid delivery so far and will support 275,000 people.