Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the capability of hospitals in Gaza to cope with the numbers of injured.

Longstanding movement and access restrictions have caused a deterioration in the quality of medical care available in Gaza. And some hospitals in Gaza have also been damaged in the current military operation. The UN has expressed concern that the Palestinian Ministry of Health is struggling to cope with the increased burden of medical emergencies on the health system, given the high levels of shortages of medicines, medical disposables and hospital fuel supplies, and rising health care debt. Some patients have been referred to hospitals outside Gaza for specialised and life-saving medical treatments. The ongoing violence in Gaza has impeded others from reaching crossing points.