Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the International Criminal Court's affirmation of the occupied status of the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

We are aware of the International Criminal Court's position and are following closely. It has been the position of every British Government since 1948 that the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs, i.e. the West Bank including East Jerusalem and Gaza) were not lawfully part of the state of Israel at its creation or at any point thereafter. We consider that the level of control that Israel retains over these territories amounts to occupation under international law and hence that Israel's presence in the OPTs is governed by the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949, to which Israel is a state party.