Middle East

Alex Baker Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

What the hon. Gentleman mentions falls into the category of the assessment that I made back in September last year that there was a clear risk of a breach of international humanitarian law. It was on that legal advice, and the quasi-legal position that I took, that I made sure that nothing we did in this country could be complicit in such action. I want to give him that reassurance. He paints a vivid picture. It is unimaginable that the suffering has gone on for as long as it has.

[Alex Baker (Aldershot) (Lab)]

The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached horrific levels. Israel’s aid delivery model has failed to meet humanitarian needs. As a mother, I cannot bear to watch children being murdered. My constituents cannot bear to watch. I welcome the statement, but what are the Government doing to deliver the three actions that my constituents want to see them deliver: a UN-led ceasefire, the release of hostages and a credible pathway to a two-state solution?

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for mentioning all three of those things. We are working for a ceasefire, although it is my assessment that we probably will not get one now before the Knesset rises. We are absolutely working to get the hostages out. I have called to mind opinion in Israel that wants to see a ceasefire to get those hostages out; I reminded the Israeli Government of that, and I did so again when I spoke to the Minister. The aid situation is abominable. That there are trucks waiting at the border is totally reprehensible. As I say, I am guided by the practitioners’ handbook on breaches of international humanitarian law, war crimes, the duty of care, proportionality and distinction, particularly in theatres of conflict, and I am deeply troubled that these seem to be being breached.