Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 15 November (HL2871), whether they will raise the issue of access to Gaza for UN and other international non-governmental organisation personnel at more senior levels with both Israel and Egypt.

While we do not intend to raise the specific issue of access for United Nations and Non-Governmental Organisation personnel, we continue to call on the governments of Israel and Egypt to show maximum flexibility in opening the crossings into Gaza to help facilitate travel in and out of Gaza. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv most recently raised the issue of movement and access with the Israeli Head of Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories Civil Division on 7 September. We remain concerned that the Rafah crossing with Egypt has been mostly closed since October 2014.