Gaza

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Monday 27th January 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance they have given to the people of Gaza over the last three months.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is precarious. There is a significant danger that food, water and fuel will run out later this year. The UK is a leading provider of humanitarian support, which includes supporting the UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, to provide basic services, providing food vouchers to vulnerable households, supporting the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide humanitarian assistance and supporting the UN Access Coordination Unit to assist the passage of personnel and humanitarian aid.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine (LD)]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that response. The humanitarian aid is terribly important, particularly when the 1.7 million people in Gaza are now living life at breaking point, with 11,000 people displaced by last month’s floods. Fuel shortages are such that donkey carts have replaced cars as a means of transport, the streets are overflowing with raw sewage and, with nearly 50% unemployment, the situation is like a tinderbox. The United Nations has said that Gaza will be unliveable by 2020, so what are Her Majesty’s Government doing to facilitate Hamas and Fatah talks, and more importantly talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, so that a final settlement can be reached for people to live in civilised form next door to each other?