Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Israeli government on the overnight detention of Palestinian minors.

While we have not raised this specific point, I raised the wider issue of Palestinian minors in detention with the Israeli Ambassador to London on 10 November. The treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention remains a human rights priority for the UK. We have expressed our concerns to the Israeli authorities on the use of single hand ties and the need to notify children of their legal rights. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv most recently raised the issue of Palestinian children in detention with the Israeli authorities on 10 October. We remain committed to working with the Israeli authorities to encourage further changes in practice.