Gaza: UK Assessment

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Hamish Falconer

Wednesday 14th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I do understand the frustration of constituents; as I said earlier, that frustration is shared in Lincoln and across the country. Everybody in this House and everybody across the country wants to see an end to the awful scenes on our television screens.

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

The Minister has stated that the legality of the UK’s F-35 exports is currently being tested in the courts. In the High Court, the Government have made submissions that

“No evidence has been seen that Israel is deliberately targeting civilian women or children”,

and that there is

“also evidence of Israel making efforts to limit incidental harm to civilians.”

If the Government need to be shown evidence that Israel is deliberately targeting civilians, I suggest the Minister and his colleagues review the footage captured by the BBC of yesterday’s bombing of Gaza’s European hospital, the footage emerging from the Nasser hospital, the millions of hours of livestreamed footage available since 7 October, or the thousands of reports and articles published since. The past 18 months have seen a total war on all of Gaza, with acts of ethnic cleansing and extermination, according to the UN. Does the UK deny the existence of that evidence, and if so, have the Government committed perjury?

[Mr Falconer]

It is obviously inappropriate to try to rehearse submissions that are currently being heard by the court.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Hamish Falconer

Tuesday 13th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

As I said to the right hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard), we are taking action—not just rhetoric, but action—to try to address the situation in Gaza. That includes calling the Security Council to an urgent session this afternoon, alongside our partners. We will continue to take the action that we think is needed to ensure that the people of Gaza get what they need.

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

We hear about the actions that the Government are taking, but unfortunately none of them are leading to the prevention of the starvation and killing of innocent civilians. The latest numbers, which are only an estimate, show that over 60 children have died of starvation according to official records. We do not know how many have died but have not yet been recorded. There is one step that the Government have not taken. I welcome the aid, but when it stands on the other side of a crossing and cannot get to the people who need it, it is useless. Some 10 or 11 months ago, aid was airdropped into Gaza. Why are the Government not airdropping aid or providing it by sea, and will they condemn the bombing on 2 May of the freedom flotilla, which went to provide aid?

[Mr Falconer]

As I think the House knows, I am familiar with the impediments to getting aid into Gaza—I went to the Gaza-Egypt border to see the restrictions for myself. We have made these points in public and in private, and we will continue to do so. We are talking to our Jordanian partners and others—many in the region understandably have real concerns about the lack of aid getting in. Although we are considering, with Jordan and others, what the alternatives may be, I must be plain with the House: there is no alternative to a land route if aid is to get in at the scale that is required, so we must be clear with the Israeli Government and all partners in the region that opening those crossings is critical.

India-Pakistan: Escalation

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Hamish Falconer

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend is a doughty champion for her constituents. We have been updating the travel advice and I can confirm that my Department has taken steps to be able to respond as fully as possible to the concerns of our collective constituents who are in the region. Foreign Office travel advice will be the first and best place for constituents across the country to be looking.

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

I thank the Minister for his statement, and I associate myself with all Members of the House in the condemnation of the terror attack in Pahalgam. I want to express my concern at the military escalation between nuclear-armed neighbours, which has already resulted in the killing of 26 innocent people. I have thousands of Kashmiri and Indian constituents—I myself am of Indian heritage—and they are absolutely terrified by what they saw last night. They have been glued to their screens worrying about their loved ones. The Minister has already explained what diplomatic steps the UK is taking to de-escalate the situation, but will he reassure my constituents that those steps will be neutral and impartial, will not favour one country over the other, and will prioritise peace and stability in the region?

[Mr Falconer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and for his acknowledgment of the importance of de-escalation. I confirm that we will prioritise regional stability, the reasonable interests of both countries and, indeed, the UK’s interest in the region, which includes stability between two great friends of this country.

Kashmir: Increasing Tension

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Hamish Falconer

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I set out the Government’s position on the core dispute in Kashmir in the previous answer. I repeat that we encourage the Pakistanis to co-operate fully with the Indian Government in their efforts to investigate and we hope that they will provide assistance. This obviously remains a time of great heightened tensions, so direct dialogue on these issues is particularly important.

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

I join the Minister and other Members in my unequivocal condemnation of this heinous and cowardly act of terrorist violence. My heart goes out to the families and the victims. We stand in full solidarity with them, as well as with the civilian populations of India, Kashmir and wider Pakistan. As has been highlighted, the killings have heightened tensions in the subcontinent. At present, both nuclear-armed countries, India and Pakistan, are on a war footing. The escalation in military action will have ramifications globally, especially in the UK where reactionary bigots and far-right politicians are sowing division among British Kashmiris, Indians and Pakistanis. My Kashmiri diaspora and my Indian family and friends and I would like to know what specific steps the UK Government are taking to help de-escalate the heightened tensions in the region and the increased tensions within our borders.

[Mr Falconer]

As I said, we are seeking to play our full diplomatic role to help manage the heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, and the concerns of the region. It is vital that all of us in positions of influence at a community level here in the UK do everything we can to ensure that those tensions do not play out on British streets.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Visit

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Hamish Falconer

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend asks important questions. The Foreign Secretary and I, and the whole ministerial team, are engaged with our international partners. We have made a number of statements with European partners; with the Qataris on Sunday, when the Foreign Secretary travelled to Qatar; and in Oman, to which the Foreign Secretary and I travelled recently. We are engaged with many other important partners in the region, including Egypt, Israel and many others.

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

We have heard Members across the House ask about recognition and sanctions. Yesterday, I joined a private briefing organised by the Palestinian NGO Network, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Oxfam International, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Association of International Development Agencies. The message I took away, which is burned into my brain, was that, on the ground, food, water and medicines—the essential of life—have all run out, as the Minister said. Baby milk and the water needed to make it are not available. Would the UK Government’s response be the same if the people who were starved, and denied water and medicine, were in Ukraine, God forbid, and if Russia was the perpetrator?

[Mr Falconer]

The UK seeks to play its full role in every humanitarian crisis. We have conducted important conferences on Sudan, and have attended to issues in Ukraine and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We act wherever we can to try to avert humanitarian suffering.

Israel: Refusal of Entry for UK Parliamentarians

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Hamish Falconer

Monday 7th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

It is the right of the Israeli Government to decide who visits. They can exercise that right as they see fit. I am sure they will hear from right across the whole House Members’ desire to continue to visit, which continues to provide a valuable function. Israel and Britain have a long relationship, whether Parliament to Parliament, society to society or people to people, and I want that to continue.

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

I thank the Minister for his statement, and I put on record my and my colleagues’ solidarity with our friends, the hon. Members for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) and for Earley and Woodley (Yuan Yang). What are the UK Government’s precise red lines that, when crossed by Israel, will trigger a full arms embargo and comprehensive economic sanctions against Israel? Furthermore, when will the Government publicly articulate and enforce those red lines to ensure accountability and to uphold international law?

[Mr Falconer]

I have talked about the importance of international humanitarian law, as has the Foreign Secretary and many other Ministers of this Government, at this Dispatch Box, at some length. Conscious of time, I refer the hon. Member to my answers last Wednesday.

Israel-Gaza Conflict: Arrest Warrants

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Hamish Falconer

Monday 25th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Hamish Falconer]

In addition to the steps I have just outlined, we will be working closely with our partners and I hope to be able to update the House shortly on some of the measures we are taking, in company, to try to ensure that sufficient aid gets into Gaza, particularly over this vital winter period.

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

The ICC arrest warrants are welcome, but in themselves they will not bring an end to Israeli war crimes and ethnic cleansing and the killing of innocent men, women and children. It is an international legal obligation on the UK Government to prevent ethnic cleansing and genocide. Will the Minister explain what specific measures the Government have taken and are taking to stop Israel’s ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza and what concrete steps the UK Government have taken to comply with the genocide convention?

[Hamish Falconer]

The hon. Member asked about northern Gaza and some of the specific measures that have been taken. As I said in answer to a previous question, we have been paying close attention to events in northern Gaza. By way of example, we watched closely—with horror—the events at Kamal Adwan hospital. I raised them myself repeatedly with the Israeli authorities and urged them to preserve life at that hospital, including among the children. We take every opportunity to underline to the Israelis their responsibilities as an occupying power in the whole of Gaza, but particularly in northern Gaza, and indeed the obligations that fall to them in relation to medical facilities, particularly where there is ongoing treatment of children, as there was in that case.

I recognise the hon. Member’s frustration at the situation in northern Gaza. We are clear that northern Gaza must not be cut off from the south. There must be no forcible transfer of Gazans from or within Gaza, nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza strip. The Government of Israel must minimise evacuation notices to only areas where they are militarily necessary, provide timely and consistent information on when and where they take effect, and be clear on where it is safe for civilians to move to.

The polio vaccination roll-out has now ended, but an estimated 6,800 to 13,700 children in northern Gaza were not reached due to intense Israel Defence Forces activity. That is deplorable. Delayed vaccination of any child in Gaza puts them at risk and is unacceptable, and we make those points to the Israelis. I recognise the hon. Member’s frustration, but we are doing what we can to try to ensure that children and others in northern Gaza have access to the aid they need.