Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2025 to Question 30304 on Gaza: Internally Displaced People, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people displaced from Gaza City since July 2025.
It has been estimated that at least 90 per cent of Gaza's population of 1.9 million has been displaced, many of whom have been displaced several times, that 92 per cent of housing units have been destroyed and 1.4 million people are currently in desperate need of emergency shelter. Following the ground incursion on 14 August on Gaza City and North Gaza, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report significant displacement observed from north to south with 33,153 movements recorded, further straining already overcrowded areas.
As the UK said in our joint statement with overseas partners on 10 August, we condemn the Government of Israel's decision to further expand its military operations in Gaza, which risks violating international humanitarian law, endangering the lives of all civilians in Gaza, including the remaining hostages, and worsening the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, leading to further death and mass displacement of Palestinian civilians. We call on Israel to allow the UN and humanitarian partners to deliver unrestricted flows of humanitarian aid to alleviate this crisis, including shelter kits.