Middle East

(asked on 22nd July 2014) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to protect residents of Gaza and the West Bank.


Answered by
Tobias Ellwood Portrait
Tobias Ellwood
This question was answered on 1st September 2014

The UK has provided £19.1 million in UK aid in response to this crisis. On 8 August DIFD announced they would be providing an additional £2 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee and on 4 August the Secretary of State for International Development announced £2 million in new funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency’s Flash Appeal. This will help the UN provide a package of essential goods to the thousands of families sheltering in schools. In total, we have now pledged £6 million to UNRWA’s appeal.

Furthermore, on 1 August DFID activated the Rapid Response Facility for Gaza. This means pre-approved partners with a proven ability to operate in Gaza will now have access to a total of £3 million in new funding to provide rapid and direct emergency humanitarian assistance. We are providing £3 million to the World Food Programme to provide food vouchers. This boost will provide emergency food vouchers for more than 300,000 people for one month, and we are also providing £2 million in medical aid. Finally, we have brought forward £3m in funding to the International Committee of the Red Cross to help them repair water infrastructure, deliver emergency medical services and protect the civilian population.

But we are clear that a political solution is required to the current crisis in Gaza if we are to avoid this suffering happening again. All UK effort is focused to that end.

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