Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their current assessment of the findings of the report Gaza in 2020: a liveable place?, published by the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process in 2012.

The UK remains deeply concerned by the situation in Gaza and the report in question’s prediction that Gaza could become uninhabitable by 2020. UK aid has supported economic development, provision of basic services, and enabled reconstruction through support to the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism. The Minister of State for the Middle East visited Gaza on 28 May 2019 and saw the extent of this first hand.

However, as the report makes clear, aid alone cannot solve the problems in Gaza. Improvements in infrastructure, employment, energy and water are essential to improve living conditions. The Government will continue to urge all the parties to take the necessary practical steps to improve conditions. We will continue to press for a sustainable political solution for Gaza and to address the underlying cause of humanitarian strife in Gaza by more than doubling the amount of UK aid spent on economic development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to around £38 million over the next five years (2018-2023). This will include support to addressing the water and electricity crisis and seek to address movement and access restrictions.