Gaza and Sudan

Laura Kyrke-Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

On Gaza, I agree completely with the right hon. Member. Journalists must be allowed into Gaza; we need accurate reports. I am worried about the scale of devastation that we will then see, but it is essential that journalists are able to get in and verify that.

On the issue of the RSF, work done by the UN has identified a range of different routes and sources for arms. It is important that not only the Quad members, but other players, of whom the right hon. Member is probably aware, are held to account and involved in ensuring that arms do not get into Sudan.

[Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for her work, and for the update on Sudan and Gaza. I was really glad to hear her talk about the west bank, because while we hope that a fragile peace is taking hold in Gaza, the opposite is true on the west bank. Last month, the UN recorded 260 attacks by settlers on Palestinians, including olive farmers. That is the highest rate of settler violence we have seen since the UN started collecting records in 2006. The Foreign Secretary rightly said that the Israeli Government’s response has been completely insufficient, but what more will she do to press them to rein in these deadly, illegal attacks?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right. The olive harvest is particularly important to the Palestinian people, both economically and culturally, and we are clear that the settler violence must end. As she knows, we have introduced sanctions on particular Israeli Ministers as a result of some of the things that we have seen around the west bank. We will continue to maintain pressure and take action against settler violence and illegal settlements on the west bank.