Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will support the establishment of an independent public inquiry into the UK's involvement in Israeli operations in Gaza since October 2023.

The government does not support the establishment of an independent public inquiry into the UK's involvement in Israeli operations in Gaza since October 2023. The government has already set out the role of UK military operations in relation to Gaza. In support of ongoing hostage rescue activity, the Ministry of Defence has conducted surveillance flights over the eastern Mediterranean, including in airspace over Israel and Gaza. Surveillance aircraft are unarmed, do not have a combat role and have been tasked solely to locate hostages in order to uphold the government's primary responsibility: the security of its citizens.