Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they will take to encourage a total lifting of the blockade of Gaza.

In close co-ordination with our European Union partners and the Office of the Quartet Representation, the Government continues to press the Israeli government at ministerial and official level to ease access restrictions. Supporting legal trade for Gazans is firmly in Israel’s long-term interests.

We have also encouraged the Egyptian authorities to ease the movement of bona fide travellers through Rafah, and to consider expanding Rafah to goods transit in the medium term, which will help to ease humanitarian pressures.