Gaza: Healthcare System Support
Lord Shinkwin Excerpts(1 week ago)
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Lord Shinkwin (Con)
My Lords, I spent much of my childhood in a hospital bed. I did not know then that most of my surgeon’s family had been murdered at Auschwitz. But I am sure that, were he alive today, he would be as horrified as I am by the tragedy that has befallen the people of Israel and of Gaza since Hamas’s barbaric and depraved invasion from unoccupied Gaza in 2023.
Of course, the international community must do everything it can to help rebuild the hospitals in Gaza, whose sacrosanct position has been consistently violated, as we have already heard, by Hamas in defiance of international law. For it is their cynical cowardice, in turning hospitals into terror command centres, that has put patients, their families and medical personnel in harm’s way.
So, to support the healthcare system of Gaza must mean protecting it from Hamas. Never again can Hamas be allowed to perpetrate such crimes against the Palestinian people. I ask the Minister to confirm that His Majesty’s Government will prioritise ensuring Hamas respects and upholds international law, because unless and until that happens, no amount of support from us will remove the threat posed by Hamas to the security and viability of the Gaza healthcare system and, ultimately, to its people.
Middle East Update
Lord Shinkwin Excerpts(4 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
I will let the people of this country decide what will wash and what will not wash with them. This is not the indefensible. This is sticking to, adhering to, international law. It is as simple as that. We have been very clear about our continued desire to be a close ally of Israel and our firm commitment to supporting Israel in defending itself.
Lord Shinkwin (Con)
Can I ask the Minister to what degree she thinks this announcement will persuade Hamas to stop sacrificing its own people in its genocidal quest to eradicate Israel and, indeed, wipe it off the face of the earth?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
We repeatedly, wholeheartedly and consistently condemn the actions of Hamas. Hamas is not the Palestinian people. It is an organisation that has taken children and murdered children. There is nothing more that we can say that we have not already said that can more strongly convey our view or condemn the actions of Hamas.