Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the timetable is for the study of options for an internationally-supervised mechanism to enable full access and movement through all Gaza ports of entry agreed at the Foreign Affairs Council of 15 August 2014.

The UK strongly supports the European External Action Service's work to produce an options paper for EU support for a sustainable ceasefire. This paper will include options for a potential EU role in monitoring and verification, and the possibility of reactivating and perhaps expanding the mandate of EUBAM Rafah. Work is continuing in Brussels, and the UK is encouraging the EEAS to put forward detailed and ambitious options.