Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Egypt regarding free passage of goods and people via the Rafah crossing.

We are concerned about the closure of the Rafah Pedestrian Crossing and the impact that has, particularly on urgent medical and other priority cases in Gaza. The crossing has been mostly closed since the start of the year while the Egyptian government construct a buffer zone, though we understand the crossing has been opened in recent days for entry into Gaza.

We have encouraged the Egyptian authorities to ease the movement of bona fide travellers through Rafah, and in the longer term to consider expanding Rafah to passenger transit and humanitarian goods transit, which will help to ease humanitarian pressures. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised the importance of reopening the Rafah crossing when he spoke with the Egyptian Foreign Minister on 14 January. We continue to raise this issue in our contacts with the Egyptian government.