Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 22nd January 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this case. She and I have met far too many families who have been devastated by this senseless violence. We are taking urgent action to ban zombie-style knives, and we are regulating the online sale of knives. It is unacceptable that these murder weapons can be bought with two clicks. Technology is there to stop it and we are going to take action. As for resources, we are putting an additional 13,000 police into neighbourhood roles and allocating £85 million to Bedfordshire Police to keep my hon. Friend’s constituents safe.

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

May I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about the ceasefire and the release of hostages? Let us all pray that the remaining hostages on both sides are released as soon as possible. Since the ceasefire in Gaza came into effect, Israeli forces have placed the whole of the west bank under strict military inspection as part of the Iron Wall operation. The Israel Defence Forces have launched a large-scale offensive operation in the city of Jenin, with numerous drone strikes on the infrastructure and a military raid by IDF troops and special forces in the occupied west bank. At least nine people have been killed by Israeli forces and 40 have been injured, including several healthcare workers. What urgent steps are the Government taking to protect Palestinians—including healthcare workers—and to prevent atrocities in the west bank, and will the Prime Minister outline the UK’s response to the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on Israel’s unlawful occupation?

[The Prime Minister]

I am deeply concerned by what is happening in the west bank. We have raised it a number of times in the various exchanges that we have had, but I am deeply concerned about it, and we are doing everything we can to alleviate the situation.

Anniversary of 7 October Attacks: Middle East

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Keir Starmer

Monday 7th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let me give that assurance that they are not alone, and let me pay tribute again to the families. It is incredibly moving to spend any time with them and to hear at first hand what they are going through. As I have said to them every time I have met them, the impact that this has on anybody listening to them, and the impact it has on me, is profound.

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

I join the Prime Minister and the House in offering my condolences to the families of all those Israeli civilians killed on 7 October, and of all innocent civilians—Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese or any other—killed over the last 12 months. Over the last 12 months, more than 950 Palestinian bloodlines have been wiped off the face of the earth—no family member remains from those generations. Over 1,000 families have only one sole survivor remaining living today. What message does the Prime Minister have for the British Palestinians and the surviving Palestinians in the affected region, and what is he doing to protect them from the same fate as the 42,000 and counting?

[The Prime Minister]

There has been far too much bloodshed and killing, and far too many children orphaned. I give my assurance that we will do everything we can, and we are doing everything we can, to de-escalate and to bring about a ceasefire to allow much-needed aid to go in and hostages to come out, but I absolutely understand the strength of the point that the hon. Member puts to me.