Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to independently verify the origin of the explosion on the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza.

Following a thorough review, we think that it was likely a missile launched from within Gaza to Israel. Any loss of innocent life is a dreadful tragedy, and everyone will be thinking of both them and the families that they leave behind. This incident only reinforces the importance of getting humanitarian relief into Gaza safely and opening the Rafah crossing. Since the Hamas terrorist attacks on 7 October, the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have spoken to counterparts from almost twenty countries, as well as the EU, as part of extensive diplomatic efforts to sustain the prospect of peace and stability in the Middle East.