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 13 March (HL5374), what steps they are taking to alert Gazan citizens of the need to vacate the area where Hamas are rebuilding tunnels close to the border with Israel.

We have no plans to alert Gazan citizens of the need to vacate areas where Hamas are rebuilding tunnels. It would be the role of the de facto government in Gaza or the Government of Israel to give a warning if the civilian population were under threat from any military action. International Humanitarian Law requires warring parties to give ‘effective advance warning’ of attacks that may affect civilian populations.

We stress the importance of protecting the civilian population in accordance with international law with the Government of Israel and we have asked all those with influence to stress the same point to Hamas.