G20 and COP29 Summits

Abtisam Mohamed Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the right hon. Member for referencing the Chancellor’s excellent Mansion House speech last week. On matters economic, I do think there is a dialogue to be had with China. It needs to be pragmatic and serious, and it needs to sit alongside the frank discussions we need to have, as we have referenced in this House, on the issues on which we disagree. But I do think there is room for that dialogue in the national interest—in our own interests.

[Abtisam Mohamed (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

I associate myself with the condolences for Lord Prescott.

I welcome G20 leaders calling for a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and the UK’s decision to support a resolution on the ceasefire. I thank the Prime Minister for his personal involvement in ensuring that this would happen. Sadly, we seem to be moving further and further away from peace. Gaza is on the verge of famine, and Palestinians are being deprived by Israel of food and humanitarian aid. The countdown on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency coming to an end is looming. Will he share what conversations he has had to press Israel to either reverse or pause its decision, or to explain how it will meet its obligations under international law?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend very much for raising this issue. I have pressed the issue on numerous occasions with many leaders in the region and elsewhere. We have to keep pressing for the hostages to be released. We must never forget that they have been held for a very long time, and in the most awful of circumstances, and what their families are going through is absolute torture. But we also absolutely need to be clear that aid is desperately needed in Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been killed. That aid needs to get in, and it needs to get in urgently. I will continue to press that case.