Northern Gaza Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Greg Smith
Main Page: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)Department Debates - View all Greg Smith's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(2 days, 14 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Falconer
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question, although I take issue with it. This Government have done more than rhetoric, whether it is the £13 million of funding we announced in December; the £112 million of funding for the Occupied Palestinian Territories; the quite different position we have taken on questions of international justice, compared with our predecessors; or the extensive funding we provide to the ICC each year to ensure that it can do its work. I want to be clear that we do not specify that the funding is in relation to Gaza; we give it so that the ICC can pursue its work without fear or favour globally, and we will continue to do so.
Greg Smith (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)
The aggressors in this situation are the terrorists in Hamas. The ones who took and continue to hold hostages are the terrorists in Hamas. Does the Minister therefore agree that the only concrete way to end this horror is for those terrorists in Hamas to release the remaining hostages, and that talk of an unconditional ceasefire gives those terrorists no incentive to free those innocent people?
Mr Falconer
Hamas are terrorists and they should release the hostages immediately.