Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much UK Development Aid has been transported by road and air into Gaza in 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Egyptian Red Crescent Society to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza. Much of this support is in the form of contributions to large scale appeals, which prevents us from directly attributing UK funding to specific items. It includes support to the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. A delivery of 315 tonnes of life-saving food aid was made via this route in January. We also delivered 87 tonnes of aid - inclusive of five tonnes of Cypriot aid - on board RFA Lyme Bay in early January and in late January the UK and Qatar delivered a joint consignment of 17 tonnes of family sized tents. In February the UK and Jordan delivered 4 tonnes of aid by air to Tal Al-Hawa Hospital in northern Gaza.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he is taking steps to help ensure that civilians in Gaza receive medical aid.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it, with a focus on practical solutions that save lives. We have trebled our aid commitment this financial year and are supporting NGO and UN partners to deliver medical aid and care in the Gaza Strip. This includes support for primary healthcare, trauma and emergency care services, disease surveillance and outbreak response, and deployment of Emergency Medical Teams.
We have provided targeted support for children through a £5.75 million contribution. This is supporting work to assist over 5,800 children with severe malnourishment and 853,000 children, adolescents and caregivers affected by the conflict, to receive emergency and child protection services, including mental health and psychosocial support. At the end of February, we announced £4.25 million to the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. This support is expected to reach about 111,500 women, around 1 in 5 of the adult women in Gaza. It will support up to 100 community midwives, the distribution of around 20,000 menstrual hygiene management kits and 45,000 clean delivery kits. On 21 February, the UK and Jordan air-dropped life-saving aid to the Tal Al-Hawa hospital in northern Gaza. Four tonnes of vital supplies were provided, including medicines, fuel, and food for hospital patients and staff. We are also exploring further options to help meet the medical needs of Palestinians.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what medical (a) equipment and (b) other aid the UK has sent to Gaza by equipment type.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We have tripled our overall aid commitment and are supporting NGO and UN partners to deliver medical aid and care in the Gaza Strip. This includes support for primary healthcare, trauma and emergency care services, disease surveillance and outbreak response, and deployment of Emergency Medical Teams.
We have provided targeted support for children through a £5.75 million contribution. This is supporting work to assist over 5,800 children with severe malnourishment and 853,000 children, adolescents and caregivers affected by the conflict, to receive emergency and child protection services, including mental health and psychosocial support. At the end of February, we announced £4.25 million to the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. This support is expected to reach about 111,500 women, around 1 in 5 of the adult women in Gaza. It will support up to 100 community midwives, the distribution of around 20,000 menstrual hygiene management kits and 45,000 clean delivery kits. On 21 Feb, the UK and Jordan air-dropped life-saving aid to the Tal Al-Hawa hospital in northern Gaza. Four tonnes of vital supplies were provided, including medicines, fuel, and food for hospital patients and staff. We are also exploring further options to help meet the medical needs of Palestinians.
It must be recognised that the support to large scale appeals prevents us from directly attributing UK funding to specific items.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of aid trucks reaching Gaza each (a) day and (b) month in the last year.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
There were 500 trucks entering Gaza per day before the conflict, now that number is around 150. There was a 31 per cent decrease in the average number of trucks entering Gaza daily between January (140 trucks) and February (97 trucks).
A minimum of 500 trucks of humanitarian aid are now needed in Gaza. We have been clear that Israel must take action to allow more aid into Gaza. We want to see a scale up of the Jordan corridor, with a streamlined screening and delivery process, the opening of a crossing in northern Gaza (Karni, Erez or a new crossing point), Ashdod Port fully opened for aid delivery and increased screening capacity at Kerem Shalom and Nitzana to seven days a week and extended hours.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the statement by UNICEF of 3 March 2024, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of reports that infants in Gaza are dying from (a) dehydration and (b) malnutrition.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We are directly funding UNICEF and the Red Cross to provide vital support for children's health in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including mental health services, medical care, essential supplies, food security, nutrition, clean water, shelter and other humanitarian assistance. For UNICEF specifically, we have provided targeted support for children through a £5.75 million contribution, part of our wider £60 million humanitarian uplift. This is supporting their work to assist over 5,800 children with severe malnourishment. The UK has also supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery in December and there have been numerous deliveries since.
Israel must take steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid into Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses, opening more routes into Gaza and restoring and sustaining water, fuel and electricity. We have reiterated the need for Israel to open more crossing points into Gaza, for Nitzana and Kerem Shalom to be open for longer, and for Israel to support the UN to distribute aid effectively across the whole of Gaza. We continue to raise this with Israel at the highest levels.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what his policy is on the potential future role of (a) Hamas and (b) Hamas-affiliated groups in (i) civic, (ii) military and (iii) political roles in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Vital elements for a lasting peace include the release of all hostages; the formation of a new Palestinian Government for the West Bank and Gaza, accompanied by an international support package; removing Hamas's capacity to launch attacks against Israel; Hamas no longer being in charge of Gaza; and a political horizon which provides a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.
The Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister have reiterated these messages in their contacts with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli political leaders, as well as leaders in Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon in recent weeks.
The Palestinian Authority has an important long-term role to play. We must work with our allies to provide serious, practical and enduring support needed to bolster the Palestinian Authority, who must also take much needed steps on reform, including setting out a pathway to democratic progress.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had discussions with international counterparts on a Palestinian visa scheme to support the health needs of civilians.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Government's priority is to support healthcare provision within Gaza, where medical needs are greatest. We are focussed on practical solutions that save lives. On 21 February the UK and Jordan delivered 4 tonnes of aid by air to Tal Al-Hawa Hospital in northern Gaza.
The UK is also providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the World Health organisation, the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation and Egyptian Red Crescent Society to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of tonnes of (a) aid and (b) UK-funded aid entering Gaza each (i) day and (ii) month in the 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK has delivered 161 tonnes of life saving aid and equipment to Egypt for the Gaza response. This comprised 74 tonnes on board four RAF flights in October and November and 87 tonnes - inclusive of five tonnes of Cypriot aid - on board RFA Lyme Bay in January. In late January the UK and Qatar delivered a joint consignment of 17 tonnes of family sized tents, and in February the UK and Jordan delivered 4 tonnes of aid by air to Tal Al-Hawa Hospital in northern Gaza.
Additionally, the UK is funding a number of trusted partners through their large-scale appeals to procure and deliver aid to Gaza. This includes supporting the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery in December and a second delivery of 315 tonnes was made in January. It must be recognised that the support to large scale appeals prevents us from directly attributing UK funding to specific items, and it remains challenging to track aid deliveries by weight by international partners and aid organisations. Updates on the number of aid trucks entering Gaza are published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) as part of their daily updates on "Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel - reported impact", available on their website https://www.ochaopt.org/crisis
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what preparations his Department has made for increasing aid to Gaza after a potential ceasefire.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. Our focus must be on practical solutions that save lives.
We need Israel to ensure effective systems to guarantee the safety of aid convoys, humanitarian operations and IDP returns, and facilitate access, as well as ensure the UN has the people, vehicles, equipment and fuel to distribute aid safely across Gaza. This includes issuing visas.
We have also called on Israel to extend the opening hours and capacity of the Nitzana screening facility and Kerem Shalom checkpoint so more trucks, aid and fuel can enter Gaza, and to open the Kerem Shalom crossing 7 days a week.
We also want to see Israel remove restrictions to ensure greater consistency on the goods allowed in, and unencumbered access to aid coming from Jordan. In addition, we want Israel to open Ashdod Port as a route for aid to reach Gaza, open the Erez Crossing to allow direct access to the north of Gaza, and restore water, fuel and electricity connections.
The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is based in the region and is working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the barriers to people in Gaza who are seeking to join their family members in the UK reaching their closest visa application centre in Egypt.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Immediate family members of British citizens, individuals with protection status, and those settled in the UK, who wish to come and live in the UK and do not have a current UK visa, can apply under one of the existing Family visa routes.
The Home Office is working closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in supporting family members of British nationals evacuated from Gaza who require a visa, signposting the necessary steps and expediting appointments at the Visa Application Centre (VAC). VACs in the region, such as Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, are open and offering a full service.
In the vast majority of circumstances, the UK requires biometrics to be taken as part of an application; this is vital so we can conduct checks on the person’s identity and suitability to come to the UK. Biometrics, in the form of fingerprints and facial images, underpin the current UK immigration system to support identity assurance and suitability checks on foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control.
Applicants who are at risk of embarking on an unsafe journey must provide evidence they need to make an urgent journey to a VAC that would be particularly unsafe for them, and they cannot delay their journey until later or use alternative routes.
When considering a pre-determination or an excusal of the requirement for an applicant to enrol their biometrics request under the Unsafe Journey’s policy, decision-makers must refer to the Biometric Enrolment and the Unsafe Journey’s guidance.