Israel and Palestine

Debate between James Asser and Ed Miliband

Tuesday 8th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

I thank the hon. Member for her kind words, and for her kind words behind the Chamber as we were coming in; they meant a lot to me. I want to do this as quickly as possible. Six to nine months is what I said in the statement, but if we can do it quicker, we will. We want to get this step right, because it is important that it actually makes a difference. It is also important to say—because it is, in a sense, the thing that will have got less attention today—that our extension of the global human rights regime to international humanitarian law violations will also help us to take action even more swiftly.

[James Asser (West Ham and Beckton) (Lab)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement, which will be warmly welcomed in my constituency, and also for the light he has continued to shine on Gaza. He talked about the students we have brought across, many of whom I have met—they are bright and intelligent, and any country would be proud to have them as part of its future. For there to be a future, children need to have a future. The Foreign Secretary talked about the appalling death toll of children, but there are also tens of thousands of unaccompanied children in Gaza in desperate need, particularly since the collapse of the medical system. Will he tell us what more we can do to give those children protection and medical aid, so that they have the future they deserve?

[Ed Miliband]

I thank my hon. Friend for the conversation we had earlier. He raises such an important issue about the healthcare crisis in Gaza. The answer is that we want to do as much as we can as a country, and as much as we can working with others. I spoke to the Jordanian Foreign Minister on Sunday about an event that we are going to hold at the UN General Assembly, and one of the things that we both agreed on was that we want to move things forward and make a difference. I absolutely promise my hon. Friend that that is what we will endeavour to do.