Occupied Palestinian Territories: Genocide Risk Assessment

Andy McDonald Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough and Thornaby East) (Lab)]

I am honoured to serve as co-chair of the Britain-Palestine all-party parliamentary group.

We face a stark legal reality: the UK’s duty to prevent genocide is triggered the moment a serious risk becomes evident. The International Court of Justice made that clear in January 2024. Judge Joan Donoghue stated that the Court found

“a real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused to the rights of Palestinians under the Genocide Convention.”

The Court issued provisional measures directing Israel to prevent genocide—measures that Israel has ignored.

Words matter too. Israel’s President Herzog declared,

“It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible.”

Under international law, such statements are evidence of intent. The UN commission of inquiry confirmed that the ICJ’s provisional measures placed all state parties on notice of a serious risk of genocide in Gaza, triggering legal obligations on third states, including the UK. As its chair, Navi Pillay, stated,

“Israel has flagrantly disregarded the orders for provisional measures from the International Court of Justice…and continued the strategy of destruction of the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Yet in September 2024, UK Government lawyers concluded that there was no serious risk of genocide occurring. That defies the Court, the commission and the law.

The UK itself has argued that genocide is not limited to killings, but includes forced displacement, serious bodily or mental harm and deprivation of food, particularly when children are targeted. Despite that, the UK has failed to acknowledge the risk, failed to respond to the ICJ or the commission and failed to act as it has elsewhere. I ask the Minister what evidence would be required to accept the risk of genocide if neither the ICJ nor the UN commission of inquiry suffices, and why, when the UK has argued that acts against children and forced displacement are indicators of genocidal intent, it has not applied that standard here.

History will judge whether we acted when the warning signs were crystal clear. I urge the Government to acknowledge the risk and meet their legal duty to prevent genocide.