Middle East

Iqbal Mohamed Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[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.

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s announcement of additional aid to help the people of Gaza, but it is aid that will join the millions of dollars and thousands of trucks that are stood outside the border not being allowed into Gaza. There are 1 million children in Gaza starving to death. Palestinian children are our children. We must do everything in our power to get food to them. Some 85% of the population are facing a level 5 starvation assessment, so—please—what steps will the UK Government and the Foreign Secretary take to feed our children in Palestine?

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful for the way in which the hon. Gentleman has put his remarks. He knows that in the occupied territories, Israel controls who gets in and who gets out. He knows that the last time we saw a ceasefire, we saw a rapid escalation of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. That is far from the situation today. We were able, working with the UN system, to get some WFP trucks in—an increase over the last few weeks—and our EU colleagues have been doing a considerable amount with the Israeli Government to increase the amount of trucks. Is it sufficient? No, it is not, and we therefore remain deeply worried about malnourished children, notwithstanding the statements that have been made in this Chamber about children whose life has been taken away from them as they have waited for aid because of the system that has been put in place.