Israel and Gaza

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Monday 20th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

Can the Minister explain how his Government can possibly justify continuing to support a military campaign that has involved the denial of electricity and basic services to civilians; the starving of civilians and the blocking of aid; the bombing of civilian infrastructure; the forced displacement of millions; the killing of journalists and aid workers; and the killing of civilians, including large numbers of children, on an unprecedented scale?

[Mr Mitchell]

We do not support that. What we support is Israel’s right of self-defence, but it must be carried out within international humanitarian law.

War in Gaza

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Tuesday 7th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

I do not recognise the early part of the hon. Lady’s question, but let me assure her, as I have assured the House in the past, that we are doing everything we can to address the dreadful situation that she has so eloquently articulated.

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

The Minister’s reply on 17 April to my written question referred to wanting

“to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets”.

Can he confirm that he is finally aware that Israel has not limited its onslaught to military targets? Given that the Government’s own licensing criteria refer to the

“risk that the items might be used to…facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law…or serious acts of violence against women or children”,

how can continuing to arm Israel in its bombardment of Palestinian civilians possibly be justified?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Lady refers to a number of early incidents, which have been condemned. She will know that, in respect of each of those incidents, the Government have said that we want an independent and credible investigation and transparent conclusions, so that we know why and how those acts took place.

Humanitarian Situation in Gaza

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Wednesday 17th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[David Rutley]

As I said in a previous answer, our assessment on export licences remains unchanged. We have one of the most robust export systems in the world, enshrined in law through the Export Control Act 2022 and implemented through our strategic export licensing criteria. It is important that the hon. Lady recalls and notes not just the humanitarian situation in Gaza, but also what is happening through Iran’s destabilising activities.

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

Humanitarian agencies have concluded that we have passed the point of being able to avert famine in Gaza. Whatever we do now, we will be too late for those people who will have starved to death by the time aid arrives, and that is a stain on the international community. Will the Minister update the House on what specific steps the Government have taken to bring about the full implementation of resolution 2728, which was passed by the UN Security Council over three weeks ago? Pleading with, pressuring and pressing the Israeli Government is clearly not a strategy that is working, so why do the UK Government not recognise that consequences and concrete actions can start with the stopping of arms sales to Israel?

[David Rutley]

We are urging, we are pleading and we are doing everything that we can to make our case. We are also trebling the amount of aid to £100 million. As I have said, we are also taking action to have this lifesaving aid corridor by sea to Gaza. Those are important actions that we are taking forward.

Israel and Gaza

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Tuesday 26th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

The UN Security Council has voted for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for only the remainder of Ramadan. It is almost two months since the ICJ’s plausible genocide ruling, yet the killing, the destruction and the weaponised starvation go on. Can the Minister outline what conversations he and the Foreign Secretary are having with their counterparts in the United States to ensure that the UN resolution this week is implemented, and will the UK Government cease arming Israel, to ensure that the UK upholds the ICJ’s ruling and its provisional measures?

[Mr Mitchell]

I do not precisely recognise the hon. Member’s description of the ICJ interim ruling, but I welcome her support for resolution 2728 and the position of the British Government. On the work we are doing with our counterparts, not only in America but all around the world, I can assure her that it will continue with the greatest vigour.

Israel and Gaza

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

I do not agree with that, for reasons that I hope I have set out clearly to the House.

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

Only an immediate ceasefire can protect civilians and implement the ICJ’s historic plausible genocide ruling. With Ramadan less than 15 days away, aid agencies warn that a ground offensive in Rafah could be catastrophic for the 1.5 million people taking shelter there, including 600,000 children. If the Government only call for an immediate ceasefire if and when a full ground offensive in Rafah begins, what assessment has been made of whether they will have upheld their own obligations under international law, particularly in relation to the ICJ’s provisional measures, including measures around the prevention of genocide?

[Mr Mitchell]

I understand the passion with which the hon. Lady speaks, but simply calling for an immediate ceasefire will not make it happen. The best chance to stop the fighting is for an agreement in the hostage negotiations, which we can then use as the opportunity to deliver a full and permanent ceasefire.

Ceasefire in Gaza

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Wednesday 21st February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

When the House last voted on a ceasefire in November, 11,320 Palestinians had been killed, including 4,650 children. When the ICJ’s plausible genocide ruling made clear the right of Palestinians to be protected from genocide, the death toll in Gaza had surpassed 26,000. I find myself asking again—just as I asked when 10,000 were killed and when 20,000 were killed—now that over 29,000 men, women and children have been killed, whether this Government believe that there should be any limit at all to the number of civilians slaughtered. People all over the UK are struggling to grapple with the fact that the Government seem not to understand that starving civilians, destroying schools and hospitals, and targeting refugee camps can never be viewed as part of a legitimate military campaign. We cannot allow benchmarks of humanity to be eroded in the way that we are seeing in Gaza. This cannot be the future.

I shall keep my remarks brief, but I want to talk about the chilling, shocking disregard for Palestinian life and the dehumanisation and racism that we have witnessed across much of the mainstream UK political establishment. Any expression of Palestinian identity has all too often been deemed unacceptable over the recent period, and long before. I am shocked by this, Members on all sides of the House are shocked by this, the general public are shocked by this and countries all over the world are shocked by this, yet the US continues to use its power, along with the UK, to ensure that this nightmare continues. This is utterly shocking and it will never, ever be forgotten.

Why are Palestinians being treated differently and denied any sense of humanity? Why are Palestinian lives and dignity not being protected? I will be voting for a ceasefire again tonight and I will continue to do so until the horrors of what is happening stop. I urge others to do the same, because human rights are inalienable, because all lives matter—Israeli and Palestinian—and because the weight of duty and history is on our shoulders.

Gaza: Humanitarian Aid and Children

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Thursday 8th February 2024 Westminster Hall

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered humanitarian aid and children in Gaza.

I begin by thanking the Backbench Business Committee for enabling this debate. I am grateful for the cross-party support that I had when seeking to secure it.

Before the war began, Gaza’s streets were alive with the sound of children. Roughly half the population are under 18, but unlike children in the UK, Gaza’s children have had to endure so much in their short lives. A 15-year-old will have lived through five wars, including the current conflict. Many have been displaced several times. Even so, they have never experienced destruction and death like this.

Since October, it has been clear that children have been affected by the conflict on an unprecedented and unparalleled scale. We know that the Hamas attacks involved the killing of Israeli children, and that an estimated 40 Israeli children were taken captive in Gaza. Nevertheless, more than 11,500 children have since been killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes and ground operations. The phrase “war on children” is echoing across the international community. Lost in the numbers are the faces, the names, the lives and the moments of joy that those children brought—children like six-year-old Hind Rajab, whose fate is reported to be still unknown after the car in which she was fleeing to safety with her uncle, his wife and their four children came under Israeli fire. More than 24,000 children have lost one or both parents.

Gaza’s hospitals have treated so many wounded children arriving alone for treatment after Israeli airstrikes that, chillingly, medical workers have coined a new abbreviation —WCNSF: “wounded child, no surviving family”. Obviously, unaccompanied and separated children require urgent protection and the provision of essentials. Given that these children need refuge and compassion, will the Minister clarify whether the Government have considered allowing children into the UK for their safety and wellbeing during this conflict, as per the petition which has been signed by over 17,000 people? For the children who have survived the bombardment, a slow and painful death looms due to the denial of essentials, the destruction of infrastructure and the lack of aid.

The healthcare system in Gaza is in crisis due to major shortages of doctors and nurses, the lack of medical supplies and the destruction of hospitals. Small children caught up in explosions are particularly vulnerable to major life-changing injuries, and more than 1,000 children have had one or both legs amputated. According to the World Health Organisation, many of these operations on children were done without anaesthetic. Such horrors are virtually unimaginable for us in the UK, but it does not stop there. Many children are accessing well below the recommended water requirements for survival, and those under five are at high risk of severe malnutrition and preventable death due to famine. According to Islamic Relief, Gaza is now the world’s worst hunger crisis.

As I have laid out, the situation for children in Gaza is catastrophic. Unfettered access for humanitarian aid is needed urgently, but the conditions on the ground, the bombardment, the siege and the destruction of infra- structure do not allow it to reach children and families in need. It brings to mind Israel’s Minister of Defence’s announcement on 9 October:

“We are putting a complete siege on Gaza…No electricity, no food, no water, no gas—it’s all closed.”

Can the Minister update us on the Government’s understanding of the legality of what many are arguing is the collective punishment of civilians and how this has affected children?

Save the Children International’s chief executive officer’s harrowing plea demonstrates the significance of what people all over the world are bearing witness to:

“We are running out of words to describe the horror unfolding for Gaza’s children. Most of them have been forcibly displaced, squeezed into a tiny sliver of land that cannot accommodate them. Those who haven’t been forced from their homes are cut-off from the basics needed for survival, far away from the little amount of humanitarian assistance that can be delivered.”

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

The horrors of recent months have literally been intolerable. Israel continues to use devastating tactics that have seen far too many innocent civilians—including children—killed, with unacceptable blocks on essential humanitarian aid. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need the fighting in Gaza to stop immediately, with a humanitarian truce now, and not just a temporary ceasefire but a lasting, sustainable ceasefire that leads to a viable two-state solution?

[Apsana Begum]

I agree with my hon. Friend that without an immediate and permanent ceasefire, it is hard to imagine how we can turn around this situation and ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the places where it is most needed.

The chief executive officer of Save the Children also said:

“Children are enduring and witnessing horrors, while the world looks on.”

I repeat that for emphasis:

“Children are enduring and witnessing horrors, while the world looks on.”

Why is humanitarian aid not getting to children who need it? What are the blocks on humanitarian aid? According to reports, the flow of aid is being drip-fed. Although around 500 trucks per day are needed to meet basic needs, most days fewer than 200 actually make it inside, and on one day this month it was reported that only 30 crossed into Gaza. Human Rights Watch argues that the blocking of humanitarian assistance amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population and poses further grave risks to children. Can the Minister update us on his understanding of why aid is not being distributed as needed, and whether any blocks to aid would constitute the collective punishment of civilians?

Then there is the question of funding itself. The United Nations Children’s Fund has requested $168.3 million to support its response in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for 2024. On 17 January, it said there was a funding gap of $55.5 million. Shortly after the International Court of Justice’s plausible genocide ruling, the UK stopped funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the largest UN agency operating in Gaza, due to allegations from Israel that 12 of the agency’s more than 13,000 staff were involved in the 7 October attacks. UNRWA has since spoken of being “extremely desperate”.

International aid agencies including Oxfam and ActionAid have said they are deeply concerned and outraged at what they have called a

“reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population”.

Amnesty International has said that while allegations against individuals must be independently investigated, cutting lifesaving assistance to millions could amount to collective punishment in and of itself.

It would be helpful if the Minister could update us as to the situation in this regard. What is the latest evidence the Government have seen regarding the allegations, and how are they being investigated further? What assessment have the Government made of the consequences of their decision for the children in Gaza? I know that many of my constituents are appalled that it appears the UK is continuing to send weapons to potentially kill children while withdrawing funding that saves children’s lives. I urge the Government to prioritise upholding their humanitarian obligations and resume the funding.

The ICJ’s plausible genocide interim judgment made it clear that Israel must take steps to prevent acts of genocide, and that its obligations regarding children and aid are key. Can the Minister tell us what the UK is doing to protect children in Gaza accordingly? In terms of the UK’s own obligations, it would be helpful to know what the Government’s response is to the growing call for the increasing of humanitarian aid and the halting of the transfer of weapons or parts for weapons that can be used against children.

All children should be cherished, Israeli and Palestinian. We know that children in Gaza should not be slaughtered, but they continue to be by Israeli forces in unprecedented numbers. We know that children in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe with no relief in sight. We know that aid is desperately needed and that children need food, healthcare, shelter and water but are just not getting them. Does the Minister agree that an immediate and permanent ceasefire is the only way to bring about the end of the suffering of children in Gaza and to enable the urgent delivery of desperately needed aid?

--- Later in debate ---

[Leo Docherty]

I am grateful for that question and will address it in my remarks.

We have trebled our aid commitment this financial year to the OPTs. There is, as I said, a £60 million uplift for the humanitarian response. We are doing everything we can to get more aid in and to open more crossings.

The hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse quite rightly asked for an update regarding UNRWA. Colleagues will know that we are a long-standing donor. The £35 million that we have given this year is for this financial year and will last until March. But, of course, we are appalled by the allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attack. That is why we are pausing, and that is why a pause has been announced of any future funding, while we review these very concerning allegations. Of course, we remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to people who desperately need it.

In addition to the UK, 16 countries have paused funding temporarily. The pause will be in place until we are satisfied that we have been able properly to review the allegations. A future funding decision will be taken after that point, and the Minister for the middle east will keep colleagues updated as to that decision point.

[Apsana Begum]

In Europe, as the Minister will be aware, Belgium, Spain, Norway and Ireland—while calling for, and endorsing the need for, a swift and serious investigation into the allegations—have maintained their funding. I want to understand from the Minister what conversations or discussions are being had with counterparts in those countries to understand how they are approaching the situation, as part of the UK’s review.

[Leo Docherty]

That is a very good question. We are talking to all counterparts. On Sunday of last week, my noble Friend Lord Ahmad, the Minister for the middle east, spoke to the UNRWA commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, who provided an update regarding the UN investigation. We will keep closely in touch with the progress of that investigation, and that will inform our decision. Up until the point at which we are satisfied, the pause will remain in place, but the Minister for the middle east will keep colleagues updated.

In terms of our calls for increased border crossings and access, children need additional food and shelter and the health support that we are providing through our partnerships with all the UN agencies, NGOs and Red Crescent societies. From the £60 million that I mentioned, we have provided specific, targeted support for children through our £5.75 million contribution to UNICEF. Our funding is supporting its work to assist more than 5,800 children with severe malnourishment, as well as providing 853,000 people with emergency child protection services, including the mental health and psychological support that, as we have heard this afternoon, is very badly needed.

We are also a founding member of and a key donor to Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. The fund is supporting several education interventions in Gaza. However, its ability to reach children who so desperately need help is, of course, restricted by the very grave security situation.

The Foreign Secretary discussed the urgency of getting significantly more aid into Gaza, to alleviate the desperate situation there, with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 24 January. He 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 more effectively across the whole of Gaza.

[Apsana Begum]

On the crossings and the ability of aid to reach the places where it is needed, agencies such as Oxfam have reported to me that they are experiencing delays in aid actually getting through, because of the excessive checks at the crossings. Some trucks have been checked up to eight times at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The agencies have also raised with me a lack of clarity about which items are able to pass through. The Minister may be aware of Israel’s dual-use policy, which strictly controls which items may or may not enter Gaza. For example, people are being told that they are not allowed through with olives with stones; only pitted olives are allowed. What discussions have there been with the Minister’s counterparts in Israel on the dual-use policy?

[Leo Docherty]

I am very grateful for those questions. We have made these specific points to our Israeli counter- parts. We believe that there are 10 steps that they should be taking to increase the flow of aid. Primarily, of course, we need a humanitarian pause to allow humanitarian agencies and Gazans to operate more safely right across Gaza. We need to ensure effective systems to guarantee the safety of aid convoys, humanitarian operations and IDP returns and facilitate access. We need to ensure that the UN has the people, the vehicles, the equipment and the fuel to distribute aid safely across Gaza once it is inside Gaza. That includes the issuing of visas.

We need to extend the opening hours and the capacity of the Nitzana screening facility and Kerem Shalom checkpoint so that more trucks, aid and fuel can enter Gaza. It needs to be open seven days a week, not just five. We need to remove restrictions in order to ensure greater consistency on the goods allowed in, as the hon. Lady referred to. We need unencumbered access to aid coming in from Jordan. The Israelis need to open Ashdod port as a route for aid to reach Gaza. The Israelis need to open the Erez crossing to allow direct access to north Gaza. And, of course, there needs to be a restitution of water, fuel and electricity connections. We continue to make these points to our Israeli interlocutors.

The Foreign Secretary also announced work with Qatar to get more aid into Gaza. Our joint consignment containing 17 tonnes of family-size tents was flown in last Thursday. Last month, RFA Lyme Bay delivered 87 tonnes of aid into Port Said. Crucially, we are supporting the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza, which has already delivered more than 1,000 tonnes of aid. It is vital that we sustain this support and go further.

We are clear that Israel must take steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid, including by allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses, opening more routes into Gaza and restoring and sustaining water, fuel and electricity. Above all, the best way to address the humanitarian situation is by bringing an end to the fighting as soon as possible, which is exactly the point that right hon. and hon. Members have made this afternoon.

The Foreign Secretary was in the region last week to urge de-escalation and build towards a sustainable and permanent ceasefire without a return to the fighting. We have identified five steps to allow that to happen—first, the release of all Israeli hostages; secondly, the formation of a new Palestinian Government for the west bank and Gaza, accompanied by an international support package; thirdly, removing Hamas’s capacity to launch attacks against Israel; fourthly, Hamas no longer being in charge of Gaza; and fifthly, a political horizon that provides a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution. We will continue to do all we can diplomatically to push this agenda forward in order to save lives, quite frankly.

--- Later in debate ---

[Apsana Begum]

I thank the Backbench Business Committee again for enabling this debate. I applied for it before the Government’s decision to pause the UNRWA funding; none the less, colleagues’ participation in it has been important and timely for that reason.

I emphasise again that all children, Israeli and Palestinian, should be cherished. We need aid to be made available and distributed so that children in Gaza get the food, health- care, shelter and water that they so desperately need. We need clarity about the situation of any remaining Israeli children who are held captive, and we need all hostages to be released. As many Members have said today and have been saying for some time, only an immediate and permanent ceasefire can end the suffering of children affected by all these decisions.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered humanitarian aid and children in Gaza.

Oral Answers to Questions

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Tuesday 30th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

Yesterday, I spoke to the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini. I made the point that it is essential that his review—which of course he is not conducting; the UN is conducting it—is completed as fast as possible for the reasons the hon. Gentleman set out. I am reasonably confident that it can be conducted within the next two months, and the British Government are watching this carefully.

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

Will the Minister confirm whether the Government have undertaken any further military action in Yemen since 11 January? If so, will he clarify whether the Government’s long-term plan includes committing to sustained military action in one of the poorest countries of the world?

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Monday 29th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

We will make our plans for funding known to the House in the usual way, but we cannot do so until we have seen the report and are clear that what has been revealed cannot happen again. Let me emphasise to my hon. Friends that the UNRWA infrastructure assets inside Gaza—the warehouses, the vehicles, the stores, and UNRWA’s ID system, which is used by the Israeli Government—will have to be used, regardless of who uses them.

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

What steps are the Government taking, in line with their obligations under international law, to ensure the full and immediate implementation of provisional measures ordered by the ICJ regarding the protection of Palestinians from genocide, and the immediate provision of humanitarian aid and other vital services? Can the Minister confirm whether the UK will now end arms sales to Israel, due to the risk that they could be used unlawfully to kill women and children?

[Mr Mitchell]

We keep all arms exports under review. The hon. Lady will know that we have one of the tightest regimes in the world. Clearly, we will consider any impact from the Court’s ruling. In respect of the other points that she made, she will have heard what I said about the ICJ ruling, and indeed what I said about throwing around allegations of genocide across the House.

Israel and Palestine

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Monday 8th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

My right hon. Friend will have seen that HMS Diamond has shot down an attack drone, on, I think, the first occasion that the Navy has been in action in that way for 30 years. He will also have heard what the Government have said: like many other countries, they have made it crystal clear that we will not accept the fettering of the international rights of navigation, and all those involved in trying to frustrate that should hear those words.

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

Just today, Medical Aid For Palestinians has reported that, along with the International Rescue Committee’s emergency medical team, it has been forced to withdraw and cease activities at Al-Aqsa hospital—the only functioning hospital in Gaza’s middle area—as a result of increasing Israeli military activity around it. There seems to be a repetition of the dismantling of health services that we have witnessed in the north in the south and middle of Gaza. Can the Minister tell us whether the Government’s support for the continued bombing of civilians and civilian infrastructure will now apply in every conflict, or whether it applies only in relation to Palestinian civilians and Palestinian hospitals?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Lady knows very well that all parties must ensure that their actions are proportionate and necessary and minimise harm to civilians, and it is in that context that we seek on all occasions to urge the Israeli Government to adopt those three key criteria.