Conflict in Gaza

Baroness Foster of Oxton Excerpts

Monday 24th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I tried to make that clear in response to the Front-Bench questions. Our export licensing criteria, as the Foreign Secretary set out to the House of Commons in September, require him to assess the risk that our exports could commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL. Our reviews concluded that there was a clear risk of Israel breaching IHL, hence the action we took on 2 September, suspending relevant licences to the IDF for use in Gaza. That was the position and it remains so.

[Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)]

My Lords, I have two points I wish to seek clarification on. I understand there is a very difficult issue in terms of aid crossing through from the Egyptian border, notwithstanding that the drivers then refused to continue delivering aid because they were being attacked by Hamas operatives and gangs in Gaza. The second point is one I raised some weeks ago here, when the Government had decided to provide UNRWA with aid again to the tune of something like £48 million of British taxpayers’ money. My question at the time was: how are the Government going to provide oversight to ensure that the money being spent—not only from UK taxpayers, but it is the UK that we are concerned about here—is going in the right direction? I have not had a response about how the Government will provide that oversight, so I would be grateful if the Minister could share that information with us now in the House?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

The important thing to consider is how we are working with all agencies, including the UN and NGOs such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and what we achieve through clear monitoring and assessment of that aid.

The situation in Gaza is appalling and we know there is a desperate need for support. We have made a very clear ask: we said that Israel must work with the United Nations and all partners to ensure that the supply of humanitarian assistance to Gaza continues in all circumstances. The enhanced levels of relief supplies getting into Gaza prior to Israel’s current block on aid must be resumed. Aid must get to those who need it across all areas of Gaza, and that includes providing access to essential civilian services.

We are pleased to hear that the latest polio vaccination rollout reached 99% of children targeted, but we remain gravely concerned by the lack of adequate medical care in Gaza. More types of goods must be allowed in, such as tents, medical equipment and machinery, to support the resumption of basic services in Gaza. I do not think anyone in their right mind would believe that the situation is at all tolerable; it is intolerable, and we need to act.

Gaza: Ceasefire

Baroness Foster of Oxton Excerpts

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sahota (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, we will hear from the noble Lord, Lord Sahota, next and then the noble Baroness, Lady Foster.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My noble friend highlights many comments that we have heard on previous occasions in this Chamber. The situation in Gaza has been horrific, but there is no doubt that the events that caused those hostages to be taken were also horrific. We have also got to think about the levels of sexual violence that those hostages were put to. There is no escaping the fact that we have to focus on the future. We have to ensure that we get proper aid and support into the Occupied Territories and Gaza and we have to focus on a much longer-term solution, which this ceasefire agreement gave. There were stages and we knew it was not going to be easy, but all our diplomatic efforts are going to be focused on that.

[Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)]

My Lords, those who are really guilty of breaching this ceasefire numerous times and continuing to do so are the Hamas terrorists and their cohorts, with many psychopaths in Gaza. These people are guilty of war crimes, breaching Geneva conventions and many other crimes that they perpetrated on 7 October and since then. Does the Minister agree that the only solution here is to release these hostages? There are still 58 of them: half of them, we believe, are deceased. Many of the people have been murdered in cold blood. They have been tortured and starved and they are still in underground tunnels. Would that not go some way in resolving this appalling situation, and maybe some way to a solution?

Gaza

Baroness Foster of Oxton Excerpts

Wednesday 5th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I think the noble Lord knows that I have made it clear, as I said in response to the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, that we are working with the Palestinian Authority; we are supporting the Palestinian Authority, and there is no place for Hamas in the governance of Gaza.

[Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)]

My Lords, since the outset of this horrendous conflict, Israel has provided 25,000 trucks and 57,000 tonnes of aid that have gone into Gaza. It is quite clear that Hamas continues to renege on the agreement that it has made so far, which leaves phase 2 in an extremely difficult situation. There are 47 organisations that provide aid to Gaza—not only UNRWA—so can the Minister please respond to the question from my noble friend on the Front Bench as to what oversight is provided to ensure that the £41 million of British taxpayers’ money is going to the correct people?

NATO and European Political Community Meetings

Baroness Foster of Oxton Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)]

My Lords, I echo the comments made by my noble friend regarding UNRWA, because we know that it has been a corrupt organisation and that there were members who were involved in the attacks on 7 October. My point is about the £84 million that the noble Baroness said government was going to give in aid to Africa and the Middle East, which sounds very promising. Can the Leader of the House please give us details of what those projects are going to be? Can she also tell us who will be responsible for the oversight of them, because this is a huge amount of taxpayers’ money?

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

I do not have full details of all the programmes yet; we will try to update the House as we go on. However, work will be around the issues that drive those people to leave their countries. There will be some work on climate change, which we have spoken about, but also on issues such as trying to ensure that people have a future in their own country—for example, on provision of skills and education. Just look at how bad girls’ education in particular is around the world—I pay tribute to the work Gordon Brown has done on this. Those are the kinds of issues that force people to try to seek a better life somewhere else. There has to be hope in their own countries for them as well. The kinds of projects that we will be working with are around access to clean water and to a decent standard of living. We will update the House as more information becomes available.