Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with international counterparts to help ensure that Hamas (a) does not re-group and (b) is not re-armed.

The UK condemns all forms of terror, including Hamas' 7 October massacre, and we are clear that Hamas can have no future in Gaza after their appalling terrorist attacks. Hamas does not represent the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. The entirety of Hamas has been a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK since November 2021. Proscription can support other disruptive activity including the use of immigration powers such as exclusion, prosecution for other offences and EU asset freezes. The resources of a proscribed organisation are terrorist property and are also liable to be seized. Whilst we are clear that Hamas is fully responsible for the appalling act of terror that has taken place, we are also clear that Iran poses an unacceptable threat. Hamas has been financially, politically, and militarily supported by Iran and we work closely with our partners to hold Iran to account. We currently have over 350 sanctions in place against the Iranian regime and we have deployed UK military assets to the region to carry out surveillance and act as a deterrent.