Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what quantity of humanitarian aid entered Gaza in each of the past six months.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Quantifying how much aid has entered into Gaza is difficult, due to the complex operating environment and limited real-time data, as well as Israel's restrictions on humanitarian workers and monitors. All allocations from the UK's Humanitarian Programme are available publicly on the Development Tracker website.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many crossings into Gaza for humanitarian aid are open.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Border crossing access remains limited and only the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings are currently operational. The UK continues to put pressure on Israel at official and ministerial levels to open all border crossings, and allow the unrestricted flow of aid into Gaza.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they have provided to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Haiti.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK strongly condemns the violence that continues to undermine efforts to restore democratic rule in Haiti, and the infliction of human rights abuses by gangs on the Haitian people, including rape and sexual violence against women and children. The UK contributes approximately £28 million per annum to development in Haiti via multilateral bodies including through the UN and its agencies. We have supported expansion of the Human Rights Team within the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), with a focus on addressing sexual and gender-based violence. We also funded the creation and implementation of the human rights compliance framework to the Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti and the designation of gang leaders under the UN Sanctions Regime for enabling human rights abuses.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assistance they plan to provide to the government of Syria to clear landmines, improvised explosive devices, and other explosive weapons.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Explosive ordnance continues to pose a significant threat to civilians and humanitarian workers across Syria, as well as preventing the rehabilitation of buildings such as schools and clinics, as well as agricultural land.
We provide funding to the mine action sector via the UK-led Aid Fund for Syria, the UK Global Mine Action Programme and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. We are working with partners to clear mines and unexploded ordnance in North East Syria, to allow restoration of services and landmines.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of their sanctions policy in relation to Israel, following that country’s attack on Qatar on 9 September.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
On 11 September, the UK's Permanent Representative to the UN, Dame Barbara Woodward, condemned Israel's strikes on Doha as a "flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar," warning of the risk of further escalation. The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have both expressed grave concern over the incident, reaffirming UK solidarity with Qatar and calling for de-escalation. Since taking office, this Government has announced three packages of sanctions in relation to Israel/Palestine. In June we imposed sanctions on Israeli Cabinet Ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir, in their personal capacity for inciting violence towards Palestinians, while the previous rounds targeted individuals, illegal settler outposts and organisations perpetrating and supporting violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many chemical weapon attacks took place in Syria under Bashar al-Assad's rule.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Independent international investigations mandated by the UN Security Council and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have confirmed that the Assad regime used chemical weapons at least nine times against its own people after Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013, including chlorine and sarin nerve agent.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of churches in the West Bank that have been attacked in (1) 2023, and (2) 2024.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, the war in Gaza must end. We are concerned by incidents and strikes on holy sites across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including most recently the Holy Family Church in Gaza being struck on 17 July and reports of attacks by violent settlers on Christian communities in the West Bank. Last week His Majesty's Consul General to Jerusalem visited Taybeh in the West Bank with church leaders and international partners to express solidarity with the local community following attacks by settlers on their community. My officials continue to meet with Church leaders in Jerusalem and carefully monitor reports impacting religious sites and freedom of religion or belief in Gaza and the West Bank. The UK is strongly committed to freedom of religion or belief for all.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of churches in Gaza that have been attacked in (1) 2023, and (2) 2024.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, the war in Gaza must end. We are concerned by incidents and strikes on holy sites across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including most recently the Holy Family Church in Gaza being struck on 17 July and reports of attacks by violent settlers on Christian communities in the West Bank. Last week His Majesty's Consul General to Jerusalem visited Taybeh in the West Bank with church leaders and international partners to express solidarity with the local community following attacks by settlers on their community. My officials continue to meet with Church leaders in Jerusalem and carefully monitor reports impacting religious sites and freedom of religion or belief in Gaza and the West Bank. The UK is strongly committed to freedom of religion or belief for all.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to sanction Israeli politicians whose rhetoric has been characterised by human rights organisations and in filings before the International Court of Justice as incitement to commit genocide.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Since day one, this Government has been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability.
It is the UK government's long-standing position that any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent national or international court, after consideration of all the evidence available in the context of a credible judicial process, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies.
Sanctions can be used to achieve a range of foreign and security policy objectives. We use sanctions when they complement other tools as part of a wider strategy. It would not be appropriate to speculate about future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to sanction Israeli officials or military personnel plausibly linked to violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza and the West Bank.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Since day one, this Government has been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability. It would not be appropriate to speculate about potential future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact. Outside of Gaza, on 10 June 2025, we sanctioned Israeli Government Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, in their personal capacities, in response to their repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. This followed two sanctions packages, in October 2024 and May 2025, targeting entities and individuals who also incited or supported violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.